


Hell's Belles

by Reader115



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Discussions about grieving, F/M, Happy Klance ending bc who I am as a writer, Klance high school sweethearts, Lovers to Exes to Lovers, M/M, POV Alternating, Past Keith/Lance (Voltron), Protective relatives, Single Parent Keith (Voltron), fake relationship trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:15:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28298835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader115/pseuds/Reader115
Summary: When Lance returned home after a five-year absence, he had hoped to tie up a few loose ends with his ex-boyfriend.  However, he finds Keith (rightfully) distracted as a new father. A new father who has a major favor to ask of Lance.
Relationships: Hunk/Rachel side relationship, Keith/Lance (Voltron), Shiro/Curtis mentioned
Comments: 179
Kudos: 384





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a one-shot until I realized it made more sense split into chapters, which is to say that its almost entirely written and the next couple chapters will be posted as soon as they’re edited, likely a chapter a day?
> 
> I hope everyone is safe, healthy, and able to enjoy your holiday season <3

When Lance had returned home, he'd expected to find a lot of changes. And he had somehow _naively_ thought he'd already noticed all the changes. Rachel's room was full of boxes because she was moving out soon. Veronica had a new car and had finally entered the nurse practitioner program. Luis and Lisa's kids were pre-teens who rolled their eyes a lot.

But he hadn't expected this.

At all.

He can't express how he _very much did not_ expect to run into his ex-boyfriend in the grocery store while said ex-boyfriend was bouncing a toddler on his hip.

"You have a kid?" he blurted, mouth gaping and eyebrows raised as far as they could go.

Keith spun around to face him at the sound of Lance's outburst and then froze when he spotted Lance - as in every muscle appeared to visibly clench.

Keith had only had a social media account when they'd been dating because Lance had insisted on it. Lance realized soon after he left town that Keith had either blocked him or completely deleted his account (Lance was betting it was the second option, Keith had never been petty and Lance could see him just deleting the account).

It wasn't like Lance had searched every photo Hunk or Shiro had posted over the past five years for a peek at Keith (he had). But Keith's online absence meant Lance had never seen any updates on what Keith had been doing.

Which means when he'd pictured Keith in his mind, he'd pictured senior year Keith. Baseball player Keith. Hay stuck in his hair after Lance had convinced him to climb into the loft with him Keith. Lance wasn't prepared for… this. For his wild black hair to be tamed into a braid that the small child had grasped into a tiny fist so that she could try to chew on the end. The arm that was holding the little girl had a bicep that was literally bulging at the hem of his t-shirt. Those beautiful eyes had somehow become _even_ _more_ prominent in Keith's face.

Keith's brows furrowed a moment later, but even with the frown, he went back to lightly bouncing the small child he held. The small child with a headful of unruly black hair and wide familiar purple eyes…

Keith didn't speak, however, despite Lance's question.

"Hey," Lance tried again, tone calmer as he straightened his own shoulders. "It's good to see you," he said sincerely. Maybe this was a surprise run-in, but he had wondered when he'd get a chance to see Keith again. "I returned home about a month ago," he offered when Keith still remained silent.

If anything, Keith's frown deepened a bit, but he didn't look at all surprised. His face smoothed, however, when the child in his arms blew a loud raspberry noise as she tugged on Keith's braid. Keith ducked his head and gently nudged his forehead against the small noisemaker's forehead.

"I've been pretty busy helping Hunk and –"

"That's great," Keith finally interrupted.

Lance sucked in a breath at the sound of that gravelly voice. His mind flew back to late night phone calls and the way Keith would always duck his face into Lance's neck every morning before classes began with a quietly murmured ' _Good morning'_.

"I'm sure your family is happy to have you back," Keith added.

"Uh, yeah," Lance nodded, completely aware that Keith was no longer making eye contact, eyes pinned on the little girl instead. "I think so, I mean, I moved back into the farmhouse for now, so –"

"I've gotta run." Keith turned away and began lowering the little girl into the front seat of his grocery cart.

"Oh," Lance murmured as he watched Keith's fingers work the cart's buckle (how much he'd missed Keith's hands was hitting him pretty hard now as well). "Well, do you think –"

"I'm pretty busy," Keith cut him off, "but, welcome back, I guess," he offered before he finally met Lance's eyes again with a curt goodbye nod.

Lance watched Keith until he disappeared out of the aisle.

* * *

The familiar scent of home filled his nostrils as soon as he stepped foot into the farmhouse, a scent that he was happy to learn had not changed at all in his absence.

He walked down the main hallway to the kitchen and dropped his armload of groceries onto the counter. "Everything you asked for," he said to Hunk, who was busy simultaneously baking fresh loaves of bread and squeezing oranges for juice.

"Great," Hunk replied, keeping his focus on his tasks. "As soon as I'm finished with these, I'm going to try a new waffle recipe."

"It smells so good, Hunk," Lance's mama said as she entered the kitchen. "Is that the cinnamon bread?"

"Yes, ma'am," Hunk replied with a grin.

"I'm sure it's going to be a favorite with your customers."

"If there's any left after we get our fill," Luis said with a laugh as he grabbed a slice of bread on his way past Hunk towards the back door.

"Terrible business practice to consume all our goods!" Lance called after him.

"Well, you'd know, college boy," Luis yelled back from outside.

Hunk presented a plate with a freshly buttered piece of cinnamon toast to Lance's mama where she sat at the table. She smiled a thanks to him. Hunk set the next plate at the empty seat next to her.

"I'm right here," Lance muttered as he put some of the groceries away in the fridge, "she's probably not even awake yet _and_ I'm the one who went to the grocery store."

"Here you go, Lance," Hunk placated, handing the next plate of freshly made bread to him.

"Thank you," he said, taking his first bite as Rachel entered the kitchen and slid into the seat next to their mother. She shot a grateful smile to Hunk before she began to eat the toast that was waiting for her.

"So," Lance said after half his toast had been eaten, "when were you going to tell me that Keith had a kid?"

The fact that his mama, Rachel, and Hunk all stilled, as well as the glance the three shared, told Lance that this was _not_ new information to any of them.

"We weren't going to," Hunk finally said as he got back to work.

Lance scoffed, mouth dropped open as he stared at the three of them. "So, not only did you actually _know_ but you were purposely not telling me?"

"You get all weird when Keith is mentioned," Hunk said.

"Leandro," his mother soothed, "you and Keith were very close in high school, but you both moved on since then. We didn't think it was healthy to tell you."

Lance bit back another scoff at the understatement. He and Keith had not just been _very close_ in high school, they'd been _in love_. But… he had been gone for five years without a word. Had Keith moved on? A child certainly represented a major change, but Lance racked his brain to try to remember if Keith had been wearing a ring or if there was any other sign that someone else had managed to capture Keith's affection.

"I don't get weird," he muttered as he left the kitchen to head to his office upstairs. "I get the right amount of interested in whatever news you have to share."

"Sure, Lance," Rachel called after him.

* * *

"I've had my home inspected. I make a decent income. I have health insurance. I recycle!"

"Yes, Mr. Kogane."

"So why isn't my file on the top of the list?"

The case worker sitting across from Keith shifted in her seat, which only made Keith want to rise out of his own seat and pace.

"It's because I don't have a _Mrs_. Kogane at home, isn't it?"

"No, Mr. Kogane, you know that we've worked with all variations of couples on adoptions. But the system does prefer _couples_ to a single individual."

Keith stilled in his seat as he realized what was really standing between him and this adoption.

"So, if I were to tell you that I am in a committed and serious relationship?" Keith inquired slowly.

Ms. Adler eyed him before replying equally as slowly. "You've never mentioned this before."

"I'm mentioning it now."

"Do I have to remind you that this person was not involved with the foster paperwork _or_ part of the home inspection?"

"No," Keith said curtly. "It has been a long-distance relationship for years. _Very_ long distance," Keith emphasized, thinking of how very far away Spain was from their small town in the middle of nowhere. "He only moved back to the country about a month ago."

"Is he staying in your home?"

Keith vehemently shook his head. "No, obviously she wouldn't be accustomed to that." _Not a lie._ "He moved back into his childhood home. For now." _Also not a lie._

"Well, then I think we'll have to arrange to meet with him, but if this is the case, then your application would certainly go back to the top of the pile."

The surge of relief Keith had felt at her words had completely disappeared by the time he unlocked his car to climb inside. Anger and fear were fighting each other in his chest, both trying to outdo the other. How could the fact that he had loved and cared for Belle over the past year mean nothing to the system? How could they just hand her over to strangers just because those strangers came in a pair? Her world would be turned upside down and she'd be left to wonder where Keith went. Keith knew that feeling. He couldn't stand the thought of Belle suffering in that way. He wrapped his hands tightly around his steering wheel. It wasn't fair that they'd both be punished, just because he was single.

"So, in your panic, instead of describing the guy who has been flirting with you for the past several _forever_ , you decide to describe your ex-boyfriend from high school?" Pidge asked when Keith returned home and explained his predicament to her.

Keith huffed in irritation but tried to keep his focus on getting a spoonful of the baby food version of peas into Belle's mouth. Most of the green mush ended up around her mouth but he expertly used the spoon to scoop up the food on her face and try again.

"Wait, what guy has been flirting with me?"

Belle squawked at him when his question had him pausing the spoon midair as he turned towards Pidge. He quickly corrected and gave Belle another bite of peas. Her feet kicked happily as she ate.

Meanwhile, Pidge stared flatly at him. "You're kidding, right?"

Keith's gaze turned thoughtful as he used the tiny baby spoon to scrape more peas off Belle's chin. "I don't even see that many people," he finally muttered.

"True -"

"Thanks."

"- buuut, who makes sure to pop in and say hi every time you come to the Garrison to see Shiro?"

"That doesn't mean James is flirting with me."

"That's exactly what it means, Keith."

"He's being friendly. We were on the baseball team together back when we went to the Garrison."

"He flat out keeps asking you to go out and do things with him."

"As a friend," Keith muttered, although he did sit back for a moment, his interactions with James running through his mind in a different light. They hadn't exactly been friends in high school, not with all of Keith's free time devoted to Lance. James had gone to a neighboring state for college, and then returned to their hometown for a teaching position at the Garrison. Keith did seem to run into him every time he stopped by the school to see Shiro. But, if James had been flirting with him, Keith had to admit he hadn't noticed.

"Anyway, James aside, you know that you've gotten yourself into a serious mess, right? I think we both know what you're going to have to do now."

Food jar empty, Keith wiped Belle's face clean and then lifted her out of her highchair to set her free on the floor. She immediately used his pant leg to pull herself to stand and then grin up at him.

"Place an ad for a fake boyfriend?" Keith asked.

Pidge stared flatly at him again. "Really? A complete stranger would be a better option to bring around hell's belles" – she pointed at Belle who cooed at her in response – "than a guy you actually cared about enough to date at one point?"

"Well…"

"Keith."

"Hear me out," Keith said, shifting himself to the ground to be closer to Belle as she began taking independent steps away from his chair. She landed on her diapered butt with an "Oof" a moment later and he patiently offered a hand to help her back to her feet. "I place an ad, vet a stranger, and then pay him, which means I get to call the shots on when he is present and when he leaves."

"There's a lot to unpack there, Keith."

"Meaning it sounds like a doable plan?"

"It sounds like someone has issues with abandonment," Pidge stated bluntly.

"Straight for the jugular," Keith muttered. He tried to glare, even though he knew it wouldn't phase Pidge, but his attention was soon diverted to buzzing in his pocket.

"Is it Shiro?" Pidge asked a moment later when Keith had only just stared at his new text message. "Can you ask him if Matt is with him?"

"Um, no, it's not Shiro. It's Lance."

Pidge's head tilted to the side. "Wow, ask you and you shall receive, eh?"

"I'm not asking -"

"What does it say?"

Keith glanced at his screen again. A few more texts had already popped up from Lance.

5:57: _Hey Keith its Lance_

5:57: _This is my new number btw_

5:57: _You probably figured that out tho_

5:57: _Hunk says your number is still the same but Im still hoping this is you_

5:58: _Maybe a text back so I know its you?_

5:58: _Unless you're too busy_

5:58: _Which you did say you were busy_

5:58: _But, uh_

5:58: _Still be nice to know I'm not bugging a rando_

"Oh my quiznack" – Keith jumped when he realized Pidge had moved to read over his shoulder – "text the boy back, I can't handle this."

Keith nudged his shoulder towards Pidge and she thankfully moved away from his shoulder. She pulled one of Belle's walker toys towards her and helped her stand with a good grasp of the handles before letting go. Belle squealed in delight as she took off across the room in a toddler sprint. She'd become an expert walker with the aid of the toy, to the point where she wasn't putting in as much effort to walk independently without it. Keith had meant to remove it from sight tonight.

Still, he smiled as he watched her round a turn at lightning speed and come back towards them with a loud squeal. He returned his attention to his phone and his smile fell off his face. How was he supposed to respond to Lance texting him?

God, Lance had looked good earlier. He'd somehow gotten taller? His shoulders were broader, pulling at the shirt he'd worn. His hair was cut shorter and styled now, no longer the unruly mop Keith had loved in high school but Keith thought it worked for this older version of Lance. And those eyes… maybe not as bright as they used to be, but still such a pretty blue.

6:01: **Yeah, its me**

6:01: _Cool cool cool cool_

6:01: _I wanted to reach out before now. Just let you know I was back._

6:02: _Sorry I didn't get to do that before running into you today_

6:02: **Its fine**

6:02: _I know you said you're busy but I'd like it if we could meet for coffee or smth. Catch up?_

Keith heaved a sigh and met Pidge's questioning gaze. "He wants to meet and catch up."

"Perfect, because you have a favor to ask him."

"You don't seriously expect me to ask my ex-boyfriend to pretend to be in a relationship with me?"

"Nope, I don't," Pidge said as she rose to her knees and scooped Belle up so she could kiss her on the cheek. "But Belle does." She held Belle up in front of her face and then mocked a high-pitched voice from where she hid behind her. "Go get me a pretend papa."

Belle giggled and wiggled in Pidge's arms until Pidge placed her back on her feet.

"You're ridiculous," Keith said to Pidge.

"Trust me, I'm not the ridiculous one in this room. Now, I'm going to give Belle her bath before I leave and you're going to quickly arrange a meeting because you still have to get to work tonight." She scooped Belle up again and Keith listened to Pidge begin to explain transponders to Belle as they disappeared down the hall.

Keith spun his phone against his leg for a minute before he finally responded to Lance.

6:06: **Free tomorrow?**

* * *

One of Lance's legs was bouncing, fortunately hidden by the table, unlike his fingers which were openly drumming against the tabletop as he sat waiting for Keith.

He stilled and grinned when he saw Keith finally enter the coffee shop. Keith didn't smile when he spotted him, but Lance kept his grin going. Keith had agreed to this, after all. Had shown up. Was making his way over to Lance's table.

"I got your favorite," Lance said, nudging a mug towards Keith's side of the table. It was a flash, but he still caught the look of surprise on Keith's face before Keith turned away to pull off his jacket to wrap around the back of his chair.

"Thanks," Keith murmured as he sat and gratefully wrapped his hands around the mug. "It got cold pretty quickly this year."

"Yeah," Lance said with a quick nod, "yeah I noticed it was pretty cold when I went out to feed Kaltenecker this morning."

_Were they making small talk about the weather right now?_

Lance shook his head as if to reset himself. He'd brought Keith here for a reason and he needed to get started before he lost his nerve.

"Hey, man, I – thanks for coming out. I, um, I feel like I owe you an apology. Actually, I _owed_ you an apology about five years ago and -"

"Lance, I – I don't care about any of that right now."

Lance's mouth snapped shut. He'd been planning this apology in his head for a while now and he hadn't counted on an interruption. He eyed Keith, who had finally lifted his eyes from his mug to meet Lance's gaze, and saw dark circles under sad, tired eyes. Something was upsetting Keith and Lance had a feeling it wasn't his actions from five years ago.

"You okay?" Lance asked slowly.

Keith shifted in his seat and shook his head. "I have a… problem."

"A problem?" Lance repeated when Keith didn't elaborate further after a few silent moments.

Keith nodded and Lance watched him struggle across from him. Maybe his tells weren't as visible as Lance's, but Lance could see the way he chewed on his bottom lip and rubbed his thumb against his fist.

"Where's the little one?" Lance asked. If Keith needed a bit of time before opening up about his issue, Lance could give it to him. He watched Keith's shoulders relax a bit, presumably at the thought of the little girl.

"She's at home," Keith murmured before lifting his mug for a sip. One eyebrow twitched in surprise, Lance would've missed it if he hadn't been looking for it.

"You thought I forgot what your regular was?" he teased lightly.

Keith shook his head. "Not my regular anymore, too much sugar."

"Are you serious? Mr. Sweet Tooth himself thinks it has too much sugar now?"

"Can't eat like that anymore." Keith's voice was still low, but he was noticeably relaxing in his seat.

"Fine, not your regular," Lance murmured before pausing, waiting for that deep violet gaze from across the table to meet his before he continued, "but still your favorite."

Keith's eyes searched over Lance's face and Lance felt himself warm. It had always felt like winning a prize whenever he'd earned Keith's attention for himself. Keith took another long sip of his drink, gaze steady on Lance throughout.

Keith rested some of his weight on his forearms on the tabletop as he settled in his seat and leaned in towards Lance. "I have a problem," he repeated his earlier statement.

"Can I help?"

"Do you want to?"

Lance nodded.

"You don't know what I'm about to ask you."

"I know you don't ask for help lightly."

Keith's brow furrowed slightly at that. "You still think you know me well, huh?"

Lance shrugged one shoulder. "I'd like to imagine I still know the basics."

Keith eyed him for another minute, seeming to consider something. Then he sighed and finally began. "The little girl you saw, her name is Belle. I'm technically her foster father right now. She was handed to me when she was barely two months old and I've taken care of her ever since."

"Whoa," Lance breathed. Lance knew his eyes had widened. Fostering a child answered a few of Lance's questions about what Keith was doing with a kid, but raised new ones.

"There's more," Keith continued. "I agreed to take her because when the social worker first called me, out of the blue, she said that Belle is the daughter of a relative of mine who passed away. Unfortunately that's all she's been able to tell me. But she asked if I would take Belle in because I'm the only family she has. _She's family_ ," Keith emphasized to Lance. "I… I consider her my daughter. I've put in an application to adopt her."

"Wow," Lance acknowledged when Keith stalled out again. "That's… That's _amazing_ , Keith. You must've been so happy to learn about her. And I commend you for taking on an infant, man. That's hard work. She's a lucky little girl to have you."

"Thank you." A light blush arose on Keith's face as he turned his mug in a circle on the table. "Unfortunately, keeping her is not going to be that easy."

"Adoptions can be a ton of paperwork, eh?"

"No, well, yeah, but it's not that." Keith sighed. "Even though she's been with me for about a year and knows me as her dad, they're still considering a different adoption application."

Now Lance straightened in his seat, Keith's sad eyes and dark circles making more sense. "What? How can they do that, especially if you're actually blood related?"

"They think a two parent unit would be better -"

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How can that be what's best when she's clearly going to be bonded to you already?"

"It's the worst thing I've ever heard," Keith vehemently agreed before sagging in his seat again. "But I have to play the game or they'll take Belle away."

Lance frowned. "What do you mean play the game? Plan on snagging a wife or something?"

Keith huffed a breath and rolled his eyes. "It doesn't have to be a wife, they actually don't care about that part. They just don't like that I'm single."

"Hm," Lance hummed, tilted his head, and attempted for nonchalance, "and how long would you say you've been single?"

Keith narrowed his eyes at him. "A while."

Lance nodded and pursed his lips as he glanced around the small coffee shop. "Cool. Cool cool cool. Me too. Single for a while."

"Being single isn't really my current problem with the adoption process," Keith continued, refusing to comment on Lance's declaration, "because I may have told the case worker yesterday that I've actually been in a committed but long-distance relationship with someone who… just recently moved back to the country."

Lance knew he should be shocked that Keith would say something like that to a case worker, but… He couldn't help the small grin that tugged at his lips.

"You were talking about me?"

Keith frowned and glanced away. "I was talking about a _fake_ person who has a _similar_ situation to -"

"Me," Lance stated plainly. Lance rested his own forearms on the table and leaned in towards Keith. "You need me to be your boyfriend."

"I need to appear to be _not_ single long enough for Belle's adoption to go through."

"Not single by dating me."

"By _appearing_ to date you," Keith grumbled.

Lance sat up and took a sip of his own drink. "You gotta admit, dating me isn't completely terrible."

"Lance," Keith growled, "will you help me or not?"

Lance tilted his head again. He could still see the boy he knew in the man before him. He owed Keith a lot and he selfishly appreciated the chance to help him.

"It's not even a question. Of course I've got you, Keith."

Keith didn't smile but he did appear to be relieved. He nodded a thanks to Lance and took another sip of his drink.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's one thing to be told that Keith and Lance had been high school sweethearts, but what if you could see it?

_He'd begged Ronnie and Rachel to wait in the truck and then posted himself outside the front doors of Garrison High at the end of the school day. But the exiting crowd was thinning and he was just beginning to be afraid that Keith had already left when the familiar mop of black hair finally came into view._

" _Keith!" he yelled, even though he wasn't that far off from him. Before he could cringe at his own loud volume, Keith's head popped up and one side of his mouth twitched in a way that Lance always counted as a real smile. He squeezed past a group of kids to reach Keith's side and grinned. "Want a ride back to my place?"_

" _For what?" And it was honestly the first time Lance even noticed that James Griffin was beside Keith. Griffin glanced between Lance and Keith before studying Lance more closely. "Don't you have farm chores after school or something?"_

" _We've got practice," Keith said, turning his back to Griffin even as he included the jerk in his we pronoun. Lance glared at Griffin over Keith's shoulder anyway. "It goes till about five. Can I come over after to work on our project?"_

_Lance refocused on Keith. "If you come over then my mama will insist you eat dinner with us," he said with a smile._

" _Pretty sure I'll be hungry by then," Keith said with another mouth twitch._

" _Will you need a ride?"_

" _Keith, let's go man," Griffin insisted, hand on Keith's shoulder to try to pull him away._

_Lance sent Griffin another glare as Keith ducked his chin before glancing back up at Lance through his lashes. "Are you offering to come back here and pick me up?"_

_Lance's face softened as he met Keith's eyes. Shy Keith was an entirely new experience._

" _Yeah, of course. Can't leave my partner hanging. Plus, my mama raised a gentleman."_

_He got a full smirk as Keith also shook off Griffin's hand. "Okay, McClain. I'll meet you out here around five?"_

_Lance nodded and tried to tame his smile as he made his way out to the truck where his sisters were impatiently waiting to go home._

* * *

_Lance exchanged one more wave with Keith before Keith climbed into the passenger seat of Shiro's car. He jumped when his father's voice interrupted his dreamy staring._

" _I like having that one over for dinner."_

" _Papa! You startled me."_

" _I like the way he looks at you when you're not looking."_

_Lance felt his heart skip a beat as he glanced at Shiro's disappearing car before looking back to his father. "Yeah?" He knew his grin was pretty dopey, but he couldn't have contained it if he wanted to. "You think he likes me?"_

" _What are you going to do about it?" his father asked, a happy grin on his own face._

_Lance turned back towards the front door in thought, eyes unfocused but staring towards the rows upon rows of cornstalks that grew on either side of their dirt driveway. "Well, he said he has a baseball game tomorrow night."_

" _Sounds like he'd like you to be in attendance."_

_Lance rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, he could've just been mentioning the game -"_

" _Leandro, that boy looks at you like you hung the moon. Go to the game."_

_Lance's smile reappeared. "Thanks, papa."_

* * *

" _You don't even know the rules of baseball," Hunk commented as they found seats in the bleachers._

" _Hit the ball, run the bases, three outs. What else is there?" Lance asked. He'd had to play baseball during P.E. enough times to know the basics. He was even wearing his snapback the right way to properly keep the sun out of his eyes so he could see._

" _Okay, so why the sudden interest in attending a high school game?" Hunk asked. His eyes scanned the diamond ahead of them until he landed on the pitcher. "Ahhh, isn't Keith Kogane your chem lab partner?"_

_Lance sat up straight and tried to appear innocent. "Yes."_

" _And hasn't he been over to your house, like, three times this week?"_

" _We had to finish that project…" Lance's voice petered off as he turned and squinted at Hunk._

" _How do you know_ exactly _how many times Keith has been over?"_

" _I also hear your mom loves him."_

" _Hear from who?" Lance asked before gasping, "Wait, are you seriously getting all this from_ Rachel _?"_

_Now Hunk straightened in his seat and appeared to look innocent. "You know we were paired up in our cooking class. We exchanged numbers."_

" _Your project for that class was turned in weeks ago. I know because I was your guinea pig for several of the draft versions of those weird cookie things. What are you, like, texting my sister for_ fun _?"_

" _We have a lot in common," Hunk defended._

_Lance slumped and groaned as he dragged a hand down his face. "You're trying to date my twin? She's like the girl version of me!"_

_Hunk laughed. "She's not the girl version of you, dude. You know your sister better than that. She's… more subdued and is fun to bake with and she smells nice."_

_Lance groaned again before muttering, "I smell nice."_

_Hunk only laughed again before quickly saying, "Also, I thought you were dragging me to this so you could flirt with someone in the stands so I invited Rachel so I'd have someone to talk to." Then he was waving and Lance frowned as he watched Rachel spot them and then make her way up to them._

" _Hunk!" he hissed._

" _Sorry! I'll still be right here to listen while you pine for Keith." He stood up as Rachel reached their row and smiled at her._

" _Hey, Hunk, Lancey Lance," Rachel said as she tried to step on his foot while also smacking the brim of his baseball hat, knocking it backwards and almost off his head._

_Lance pushed her and she wobbled like she was going to fall, which only meant that Hunk got to save her by wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close and Lance pushed himself to his feet and headed down the stairs towards the home dugout to avoid whatever was going to happen next._

" _You came." Keith's voice reached him through his haze of wondering if he was going to have to see Hunk kiss his sister._

" _Yeah," Lance said with an easy grin when he spotted Keith, his worries fading as Keith rounded the chain link fence to join Lance on the other side. "I didn't realize how popular the games are." He waved towards the busy bleachers behind them._

" _Rude," Keith said as he also smacked the brim of Lance's hat and nearly knocked it off._

_Lance only laughed and readjusted it, certainly not as put out by Keith's attempt as he had been by Rachel's._

" _Although, this is a game against a rival team, so probably explains the turnout," Keith added as he eyed the stands. "Are you here with anyone?"_

_Lance bit the inside of his lip to tame his smile as watched Keith continue to avoid eye contact by studying the stands. Keith was chewing on his bottom lip and rubbing his thumb against his fist. He'd never seen a nervous Keith before._

" _Hunk. And apparently my sister."_

_Keith finally met his eye with a small smile. "You want to meet up with me after? I have Shiro's car. We can go get something to eat?"_

" _Yeah, definitely." Lance's grin was full blown now before he grimaced slightly at his next thought. "Plus, I really don't want to stick around to see what Hunk and Rachel are going to get up to after this."_

" _Oh," Keith's eyes widened a bit. "Are they a thing?"_

" _No!" Lance exclaimed before slumping a little. "Maybe."_

" _So, you're saying you need me to save you from them?"_

_Lance began fluttering his eyes at Keith. "My hero." Another mouth twitch from Keith. "Although, I do think it would be fun to hang out with you in a manner that doesn't include chem lab notes."_

_A smirk pulled at Keith's mouth as he took a step closer to Lance. He ducked his chin so he could look up at Lance through his lashes. "So, there'll be no chemistry between us tonight?" he murmured._

_Lance sucked in a breath before saying, "I take it back," on a harsh exhale, "chemistry can totally be our thing. Lots of chemistry. I love our chemistry."_

_Keith smiled a real smile before he ducked under the brim of Lance's hat to plant a small kiss on the corner of his mouth. "You gonna cheer for me?"_

" _Yeah, I've got you," Lance choked out._

" _Keith!" Griffin called, and when Lance glanced over, he found the team's third baseman glaring at Lance over Keith's head._

_Keith didn't even acknowledge that he was being beckoned, just smiled again at Lance and said, "Thanks. I'll see you afterwards."_

_Lance could only nod dumbly as he watched Keith, in those sinfully tight baseball pants, swing back around the chain link and head to the pitcher's mound. Heat had rushed to his face and he almost had to ignore the excited tingling feelings running down his arms and legs in order to climb the stands again. How was he was supposed to now sit through this game (how long were these things?)_

_Still, he made his way back up to his seat and ignored the knowing looks Hunk and Rachel sent him as he grinned his way through all the innings. He cheered when they won. And when he met Keith in the parking lot afterwards, and Keith gave him the game ball that he himself had just been presented by the team, Lance pulled him in by his shirt and kissed him against Shiro's car._

* * *

_Keith clambered to the top of the wood pile, which was a haphazard assortment of sticks and logs put together by the McClain siblings. He'd already teased Lance that it didn't look incredibly sturdy, but when Lance teased back that Keith was just scared, he'd begun to climb._

_He squawked when Lance climbed up behind him, mainly because he wasn't sure the wood pile was going to support two of them, but Lance only smiled as he reached the top with Keith and dropped his chin on Keith's bare shoulder from behind. The summer sun had nothing on the heat he could feel from Lance's bare chest pressed to his back._

" _Here you go, Keith." Veronica handed him the rope that hung from the tree standing tall next to them. Keith gave it a few sharp tugs, eyeing the branch it hung from as he did so._

_Lance laughed again, although his hands landed on Keith's hips and he squeezed reassuringly. "It'll hold. We've been swinging from it for years."_

" _Hm, so this rope is how old?" Keith asked him quietly._

" _My father replaces it every couple years. You're safe." One of his arms wrapped around Keith's waist and the other hand grabbed the rope to help. "I've got you. Just hold on tight, put on foot on the ring at the bottom of the rope, and then push off."_

" _Let go when you reach where we are!" Hunk called from where he and Rachel were treading water in the lake._

" _Ready?"_

_When Keith nodded, Lance's hands dropped off of him and he moved away, giving Keith the space he'd need. He fit one bare foot on the plastic ring tied to the bottom of the rope, tightened his hold, and eyed where Hunk and Rachel were._

" _Oh! One more thing," Lance said, and when Keith turned to him, he received a lingering kiss from Lance, which lasted long enough for his siblings to start loudly complaining._

_Keith's stomach swooped in the best way and he smiled at Lance as he pulled away, ready to try to rope swing for the first time. Not that it mattered much anymore. No way was this going to compete with the happy butterflies provided by the boy next to him._

* * *

_Despite it being a chilly fall night, he'd pulled Keith onto the front porch after Sunday night dinner. Well… after Sunday night dinner's dessert. Keith must've eaten at least five of his mother's extra fudgy brownies. Lance was pretty sure most people would be surprised at the amount of sugar Keith routinely inhaled, given how fit and trim he was._

_There were two rocking chairs but he'd pulled Keith into his lap before Keith could even try to sit in the second. Keith had laughed and allowed it, but then asked, "Are your parents going to be okay with this?"_

" _Mmhmm," Lance hummed, distracted by his new easy access to duck his fingers under Keith's shirt hem so he could feel Keith's stomach muscles twitch as his fingertips slid across his skin._

" _They're so nice," Keith sighed. "I don't want them mad at me."_

_Lance wrapped his fingers around Keith's hip and squeezed as he dropped his forehead to Keith's. "They wouldn't be mad at you for sitting in my lap," he said quietly with a chuckle. "They'd be mad at me for corrupting you." Keith snorted and shook his head. "You really like them? I know we spend a lot of our free time here, which… could be annoying. Maybe you want to hang at your place more? Or do someth-"_

_Keith kissed him into silence, a trick he liked to use often, but since Lance reaped the reward… He wasn't going to complain._

" _Yes, I like them. A lot," Keith whispered when they broke apart. "And I like spending time here. I'm not saying Shiro doesn't feel like a big brother, because he does, and he's provided a lot of stability for me, since I began living with him, but… Your family… I like that you share them with me. I like knowing what a real family looks like, feels like."_

_The light from inside reflected off a slight sheen in Keith's eyes before he ducked his face away, and Lance couldn't have Keith feeling ashamed or regretful about sharing with him. His arms wrapped around Keith to pull him as close as possible into a hug, which Keith easily melted into._

_At the same time, emotions were welling up in his own chest and he tried to parse out what they were. Empathy for the hurt and loss Keith had faced in his own life. Gratefulness that Keith was in a stable and safe place now. Gratitude that he was the one that had captured Keith's attention (thinking back to the side eye Keith had sent him the first time Lance had sat at their shared chem lab table to where they were now…) He was honored to earn Keith's smiles. That he was gifted Keith's kisses. That he was someone Keith trusted._

_He tried to think about what it would feel like to have his entire family shrunk down to just one older brother and shuddered at how quiet and lonely that would be. He hugged Keith tighter before pulling back enough so that he could kiss him again. His fingers moved to slide through Keith's hair and one of Keith's hands lifted to his neck, fingertips tickling the hair at the nape of Lance's neck._

_That last emotion swirling around in his heart remained as the others faded away. It warmed his chest and sent shivers down his spine. He hadn't expected it this quickly. But it didn't scare him in the least._

" _I love you, you know," he murmured to Keith._

_Keith gasped and pulled back with wide, shiny eyes. "You do?" he whispered._

_Lance tucked some of Keith's hair behind an ear. He nodded._

_Keith pressed a quick kiss to Lance's mouth before he sniffled and nodded himself. "Me too. I love you, too, Lance."_

* * *

" _I just think this is more fun than prom," Keith muttered from where he was nestled into Lance's side on the couch._

" _Prom will be exactly like this!" Lance threw his hands up as if to indicate his entire living room._

" _Uh, how?" Hunk asked from other end of the sectional where he was currently cuddled with Rachel (despite Lance's complaints)._

" _I should start making you all wear tuxes in here then," Lance's father said with a laugh as he settled into the loveseat with his mama._

_Lance grinned at the way they cuddled together and pulled Keith a little closer to him. He pressed a kiss into Keith's hair and felt Keith squeeze where their fingers were intertwined. Nadia and Sylvio were both squeezed into the couch on Lance's other side while Ronnie sat in a nearby rocking chair. It was a traditional family movie night, with the exception of Luis and Lisa who had opted to go out on a date night since they clearly had free babysitting tonight._

" _I just mean you'll be surrounded by people you know with the teeny tiny addition of tuxes, music, and dancing," Lance stated. "You know Shiro would love to rent you a tux."_

" _Only so he could take a million pictures."_

" _Shhh," Sylvio said, eyes still glued to the screen._

_Lance had wanted to watch one of the Jurassic Park movies tonight, but with his niece and nephew around they were forced to forgo vicious man-eating dinosaurs and re-watch the first Toy Story. At least Keith didn't seem to mind._

" _You've seen this at least twenty times," Lance muttered to Sylvio and then flinched when Keith pinched his leg. "What? He has!" he whispered to Keith. He glanced around the room and, seeing that everyone else seemed to be actually watching the movie, leaned in further to whisper to Keith. "You really don't want to go to prom?"_

 _Lance would be lying if he hadn't had a few prom fantasies that featured Keith in a tux slow dancing with him. They'd been dating for over a year now and this was_ senior _prom. And while he was well aware that Keith was pretty adverse to big groups (although he fit right into McClain family functions) it hadn't really occurred to him that Keith might flat out refuse to go._

_Keith lifted his head from Lance's shoulder to meet his eyes. "I have to wear a tux?" he whispered._

" _You'll look smokin hot in a tux." Keith huffed a quiet laugh into Lance's shoulder. "Plus, everyone will be in a tux, it'll draw more attention if you're_ not _in one."_

_Keith rolled his eyes. "I hate that you're right about that."_

_Lance leaned in and pressed a kiss to the corner of Keith's mouth. It had become something of a habit that they both did, especially when they really wanted something. And Keith's deep sigh in response meant he knew prom was a special request._

" _Okay," he begrudgingly whispered, "we'll go to prom."_

" _Yes!" Lance exclaimed with fist pump and enough volume to make almost everyone in the room jump. "We'll get fitted for tuxes separately, though," Lance said as he ignored Nadia poking him in the side to try to quiet him. "I don't want to see you in yours until the night of prom."_

_Keith sighed another deep sigh, but Lance still saw a small smile as he rested his head back on Lance's shoulder. He grinned over at his parents, who were both smiling fondly at him, before he settled back into the couch and quietly watched the rest of the movie._

* * *

" _So much more comfortable," Keith sighed with a full body stretch despite the fact that he was climbing the ladder ahead of Lance to the barn's loft._

" _Don't fall back." Lance smiled as he watched his boyfriend stretch like a cat on the ladder. They'd come back to his house after prom, ditched the tuxes in Lance's room in exchange for sweats and t-shirts, and then snuck out of the house to hang in the barn._

_And since Keith's pause had forced Lance to pause on the ladder as well, he took advantage of the position he was in and reached up to squeeze Keith's rear end._

" _Hey!" Keith said with an honest to God giggle when the squeeze caused him to jolt and a foot to slip._

" _Don't fall!" Lance laughed, despite being the cause of Keith's balance issues. "If you go down, you'll take me with you and we'll both be broken!"_

_Keith peered down at him, mouth twitching as if he were fighting a smile. "You're gonna let me fall?"_

" _No, I've got you," Lance said with enough fondness to earn that smile from Keith._

_When they'd finally (and safely) reached the top, Lance pulled out the blanket he'd stashed there earlier and rolled it across the hay. "Come here," he murmured, laying on his back and beckoning Keith into his side._

" _Soooo much more comfortable," Keith repeated as he complied._

" _But you looked soooo good in your tux, babe," Lance murmured in response. "I'm gonna cover my walls with pictures of you in that tux."_

" _Ridiculous," was Keith's only response._

_Lance chuckled to himself, thinking of how he'd already covered his walls with photos of just Keith as well as the two of them together from the past year. Keith in his baseball uniform (mmmm) at games last spring and this spring. Keith at the lake last summer. Keith in their cornfields. Keith at family birthday parties. Keith laughing with his mama while they fed the chickens. Keith talking to his papa while they both manned the grill at a recent family barbeque. There was Lance's birthday at the beach and Keith's birthday at a haunted house. A selfie Lance had taken of the two of them when they'd reached the top of the ferris wheel at the fair last fall._

_Now there'd be tuxedo pictures and soon cap and gown pictures. He hadn't told Keith yet, but for graduation he'd bought him two tickets to a professional baseball game in the city. He sorta wanted to give them to him when he could ask Ronnie to be ready nearby to take a picture of Keith's (hopefully) excited expression. From there, there'd be photos of them in the stands. More summer lake pictures. And whatever else came as they began college in the fall. They'd both been accepted to a nearby college, close enough that they could both continue to live at home for now._

" _I really love you, you know."_

" _Good thing," Keith commented idly, "I did wear a tux for you."_

_Lance pretended to growl as he propped himself up on an elbow and narrowed his eyes at Keith. Although Shiro had tried to style Keith's hair back and away from his face for the night, most of it was loose again, wild around his head where he lay. Lance ran his fingers through it to tame it down and watched as those pretty violet eyes fluttered at the touch._

_Lance ducked his head and pressed a quick kiss to Keith's neck before blatantly sucking on the skin in the way that he knew would make a deep sound escape Keith's throat. "You're supposed to say you love me, too," he whispered deliberately into Keith's ear, leading to a visible shiver from his boyfriend._

" _I do love you, too," Keith whispered back before wrapping his hands around Lance's face and pulling him upwards to kiss him._

_Lance hummed happily into the kiss. He was pretty sure he'd kissed Keith a million times by now, but it still led to sparks under his skin every time. Crazy butterflies. A deeper hunger that had his hands trailing from Keith's hair, over his shoulders, down his ribs, and to his waist. His fingers dipped under Keith's shirt and then skimmed Keith's waistband, fingertips trailing over the soft skin until Keith apparently grew impatient with him, dropping his hands from Lance's hair to begin pushing his own sweatpants off._

_Lance chuckled a bit at that, which earned a small glare from Keith, but he also pushed himself up quickly and murmured to Keith to let him help. He pulled Keith's sweatpants off and when Keith tugged at the waistband of Lance's own pants, he got rid of his own pants as well before rejoining Keith on the blanket. Snuggled close, free to press kisses where they wanted and let fingers wander to places that they knew would lead to gasps and eventual panting breaths._

_Lance was so busy kissing his way down Keith's chest, Keith's shirt pushed up and Keith's hands back in his hair, that he almost didn't hear Keith speak when he asked, "Did – did you bring anything?"_

_He lifted his eyes to meet Keith's. "If I say yes, I don't want you to think it's because I expected anything to happen."_

_Keith chuckled, and since Lance was currently resting his chin on Keith's belly, his head shook with the laughter. "So, yes you did?"_

_Lance nodded._

" _It's not like we haven't tried before," Keith teased._

" _Don't remind me," Lance grumbled as he shifted to the side so he could pull a backpack from where he'd stashed it in the hay._

" _It's not just your fault," Keith said matter of factly as Lance pulled a bottle of lube from the bag._

_And thankfully, that was true. They had tried to go all the way in the past. It was just that… their stamina never let them last long enough… Lance blamed Keith's talented mouth. Keith blamed Lance's skilled fingers._

_Lance sat back on his heels and drank in the sight of a slightly flushed Keith with a fond smile. There was something incredibly special about being the only one to see Keith like this, being the only one who Keith trusted enough to share this._

" _You sure you want to try again?"_

_Keith's mouth pulled into a devilish smirk as he sat up and pulled Lance into another kiss._

" _Practice makes perfect, right?" Keith asked between kisses._

_Lance laughed as he leaned forward and pushed Keith back down to his back. "Love you," he said._

_Keith laughed. "Love you, too."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure I need to say this, but just in case - this chapter bring us back to the present.

"Come on in," Lance said upon swinging the farmhouse's front door open. He tipped his head to get closer to eye level to Belle and offer a smile. "Hey, pretty girl."

Belle glanced at him but was soon twisting in Keith's arms, pushing herself away from Keith's chest so that she could see _around_ Lance.

"Ba-buela!" Belle exclaimed.

"There's my little peanut," Lance's mama cooed, coming down the hallway with arms already outstretched. "I've missed you." Belle transferred easily to her arms and the two disappeared down the hall towards the kitchen.

Lance gaped after them. When he'd invited Keith to bring Belle over to the farmhouse, he thought he'd not only get to spend some more time with Keith and properly meet Belle, but also introduce the little girl to his mama and any other family present for dinner, something he assumed would help their cause with the case worker.

"Hm, she just called my mom something that sounded a lot like _abuela_?"

"Yeah, it's one of the few words she knows," Keith said.

"But, uh, she knows what it means? Like, clearly they've met before."

Keith pulled his beanie off and his hair floofed up. Lance resisted the urge to run his fingers through it to tame it back down.

"Are you and Belle over here often?" Lance asked, still stuck on the image of the little girl lifting her arms to be scooped up by his mother as if she'd done it a million times before.

"Yeah, your family pretty much insisted that I keep coming over, even after you… So."

"You've still been coming over for the last five years?" Lance asked, truly intrigued about this new information.

Keith shrugged and avoided Lance's eyes. "Yeah, for dinners or birthdays. Some holidays. To swim. They didn't tell you?"

Lance shook his head and decided not to tell Keith that his family thought he got _weird_ when Keith was mentioned, likely the reason they failed to mention that they'd adopted Keith after he left.

Keith nodded, though, as if pleased by Lance's ignorance. "I told them I'd come over if they didn't mention it to you, kept me out of any photos they posted. I didn't want you to think I was over here just to… cling, or whatever."

"I wouldn't have thought that," Lance said softly. "I'm actually pretty happy to hear that you didn't lose touch with everyone. Is that why you weren't surprised to see me? They told you I was coming back?" When Keith nodded, Lance frowned, thinking about the past month since he had come home. "We've had Sunday night dinners and things since I've been back. You didn't want to come over and see everyone?"

"I didn't really expect to come back to the farm with you home."

"You think the McClain family was just going to drop you or let you disappear?"

"You want to rethink saying that to me?"

" _Ouch_ ," Lance said, guilt rearing in his chest in a way he'd managed to beat back before now. "You know, I'd still like to apologize -"

"I don't need an apology."

"Seems like maybe you do?" Lance asked, eyes searching Keith's face.

Keith only shook his head and then nodded towards the kitchen. "We better get in there. If I don't keep an eye on your mom, she'll give Belle straight up sugar and I won't get any rest tonight."

"Speaking of," Lance said as he trailed after Keith down the hallway, "and, no offense, dude, but you look exhausted."

"Thanks," Keith deadpanned.

"Well, I mean I know you're raising a toddler and you're stressed about the custody issue, so I get it. But are you sleeping at all?"

" _Lance_."

"I found the best under eye cream while I was in Spain, you could borrow some."

Keith only shook his head and said, "Glad to hear your time away was spent wisely."

 _Ouch_ , Lance thought to himself.

* * *

In one corner of the living room, where Lance hadn't noticed since his return, his mother had a basket full of toys. Belle had known exactly where to find them.

"Thank you," Lance said with a wide grin as Belle handed him yet another toy. He placed it in his lap with the others as she turned and toddled a few steps to pick out a new one.

It had been somewhat soothing to see Keith at their dinner table again. Also, watching "Dad Keith" was an adorable experience. Keith had mastered how to feed her baby food and keep most of her face clean at the same time. Lance wasn't sure that was something Luis had ever mastered. Plus, the way his brow furrowed with the concentration of a surgeon to cut her table food into the tiniest pieces of food? Cutest shit Lance has ever seen.

The toys spread dramatically across the floor right now had Lance feeling nostalgic for when he did the same as a kid, sometimes playing happily with his siblings, sometimes fighting over who was touching his stuff. Still, childhood home or not, he'd tried to avoid stewing in memories since his return.

It had been fairly difficult to make the decision to finally come home, which was pretty obvious by the fact that it took him five years to do it. Luis had moved out long before Lance had graduated from high school, but he was still nearby with his family (plus, Luis was over almost every day to work on the farm). Marco had also moved out before Lance's graduation, but, three years after Lance left, Marco had actually moved across the country for a job, so Lance was going to have to wait longer for their reunion. Veronica and Rachel still lived at home, providing some familiar family comfort, although he didn't miss having to fight over time in the bathroom with them. That wasn't going to last much longer, though, since Rachel announced that she was moving out next month after her wedding. Ronnie would likely also move out in the coming year after her graduation from her nursing program. Lance wasn't even sure how long he'd stay at the farmhouse himself, was just grateful for his siblings' presence and that his mama had been okay with him moving back in for now.

The familiarity of this house and its inhabitants hurt sometimes, too. His very first Sunday night back in the country was the first time his mother was going to have (almost) all her kids under one roof for Sunday night dinner. He knew his mama was excited. He could hear his sisters downstairs talking to Luis and his family. And yet, he almost didn't make it downstairs to join them, afraid of what it would feel like to sit at their table. He'd made it halfway through the dinner before his eyes welled up with tears and he had to excuse himself. He made it through the entire meal for the second Sunday night dinner but said very little throughout.

It wasn't fair to the rest of the family, but he also couldn't help feeling upset with them as they sat and joked and shared stories while they ate, as if an integral member of the family wasn't missing from the table. He knew that was on him, though. He'd known coming back would be hard. It was silly to think that everyone else would wait to for him to return so that they could all grieve together.

Soothing as Keith's additional presence had been, that same sadness struck again tonight as they ate. Although he had to admit, Belle's babbling in between bites as well as the faces she made as she tried new foods from Keith's plate had made this the easiest dinner since he'd arrived home.

Belle had beelined for the toy basket after dinner (another sign that she was a regular farmhouse visitor) and Keith had nodded Lance towards her while he offered to help clear the table. He could hear Keith and his mama murmur quietly to each other over the sound of the dishes in the sink.

"Why thank you," Lance said as he accepted the next toy from Belle. "Did you know this one lights up?" He pressed one of the large colorful buttons and the toy not only lit up but also began to play a song.

Instead of a smile, Belle tilted her head and her tiny eyebrows furrowed as she examined the toy. "You really are related to Keith, aren't ya?" He smiled as his mind flashed to that same expression on Keith's face as he watched Luis try to fix the engine on their combine or any time he watched Hunk mix together one of his creations in the kitchen.

"Alright, hell's bells," Keith said as he entered the room.

" _Keith_!" Lance's mama whacked Keith's shoulder with a dish towel. "I told you that you had to stop calling her that when she started talking!"

Keith only chuckled as he sank down on the ground and lifted his arms for Belle to fall into. Belle babbled a few words and pulled on Keith's braid before handing him the book she'd found.

A new kind of sadness reared in Lance's chest. He thought he'd be re-introducing Keith to his mom tonight. He hadn't expected to see Keith and his mom as close as ever. And as cute as Keith was reading a book to the little girl in his lap, this wasn't the Keith he'd left behind.

Keith closed the book when he reached the end, prompting Belle to tug on the book to try to open it again. "Sorry, Belles, we gotta go," Keith said, pushing himself to his feet even with Belle in his arms.

Lance stood as well and watched Belle's violet eyes widen as her lower lip protruded in a pout as she stared up at Keith.

"Oh, my goodness," Lance exclaimed, his sour mood forgotten. "I'll read the book to her! How can you say no to that face?"

Keith only chuckled as he tossed the book into the basket and jostled Belle on his hip, the movement distracting her enough that her pout fell away and she laughed. "If we don't leave now, we'll be late for her bedtime and for whatever _nonsense reason_ , if she doesn't go to bed on time, she won't go to bed at all? She's too tired to sleep?"

"Oh," Lance said, disappointed that they were already leaving. He scooped up the backpack Keith had brought and handed it to him before walking him to the door. "Should we meet up again soon?"

"Uh, yeah, actually I'll have to set up a time for you to meet with our case worker. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course, whatever we have to do."

"Okay, maybe in a few days? I have some work to catch up on."

Lance nodded through the additional disappointment. He'd been gone five years but now a few days seemed like too long to wait to see Keith again. He was also realizing that he had no idea what Keith did for work, but that was going to have to wait for another day. He was at his limit for new information tonight.

Lance leaned in a bit and said, "Bye, Belles," with a smile for her. She ducked her face into Keith's shoulder but the corner of her mouth twitched. He counted it as a smile. "Drive safe," he directed to Keith before closing the door behind them.

His mother hadn't followed them to the front door, but she was waiting in the kitchen with arms crossed as he came around the corner.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? Pretending to be in a relationship with Keith? He and I both noticed that you looked upset tonight."

"I'm not upset about being around Keith," Lance insisted. "It was just… I didn't expect to find that some things hadn't changed at all, even though…"

"I think that's going to keep happening to you for a while, Leandro. You have to expect that."

Lance sat on the one of the kitchen stools and ran a hand down his face.

"Your siblings have noticed the same reaction when we all get together, too, you know." She softened her voice and sat next to him before speaking again. "Did you expect to come home and be cured from having to actually grieve for your papa? From missing him? You can't hide from grief, Lance. It's always going to sit and wait for you if you don't face it."

Lance sniffed but before he could really sink into it, he heard their front door open and shut.

"Hey!" Ronnie called out as she entered the kitchen. "I just saw Keith and Belle."

"There's some leftovers, have you eaten?" their mother asked.

"Not yet, thanks. Is that why Keith was here? Dinner?" She eyed Lance. "How'd you swing that?"

"He asked for a favor," Lance said before explaining the favor. Ronnie had begun to make herself a plate, but her movements slowed as he spoke until she was no longer moving at all, just staring at him wide-eyed. Her gaze began to shift frantically between Lance and their mother.

"Mama! You're allowing this?"

"We're grown men, Ronnie."

"Which means you should know better! Lance! You can't just reappear in Keith's life and then jump into being his fake boyfriend!"

"He asked -"

"No, I don't care." Ronnie smacked her palm on the counter as she spoke. "We didn't pick Keith up in the middle of our own grief about losing papa - in the middle of Keith's grief over losing papa and his _heartbreak_ over losing you - and stand him back on his feet in order to take care of him _for you_ for five years just for you to pop back in and break his heart again."

Lance's face crumpled as if pained. He knew his family and how big their hearts were. He knew that they had all loved Keith when he and Keith had been dating. None of what Ronnie said should surprise him. But he really hadn't known that his family had kept Keith so close in his absence. He was already feeling fragile tonight and now his throat tightened at the thought of everyone taking care of Keith for not only Keith's benefit, but because they knew taking care of Keith would be what Lance would want. He swallowed against the lump in his throat before speaking again.

"I'm not popping in," he said, voice hoarse and quiet. "I'm here to stay. And I don't want to hurt Keith. I never wanted to hurt Keith. He asked me for my help and I'm going to help him."

"I'm holding you to that," Ronnie warned, voice just as quiet.

* * *

"When are you seeing him again?"

"I should be able to help unload the next delivery truck before I have to leave," Lance said. He trailed his fingertips across the newly installed quartz that covered the large island in the middle of Hunk's new bakery kitchen.

"You're so beautiful, I could hug you," Hunk murmured and when Lance glanced over, he caught Hunk wrapping his arms around his newly unboxed dough roller.

"You're not cheating on Rachel, are you, big guy?" he laughed.

"Is it cheating if Rachel hugs it when she comes in later?"

Lance pretended to shudder. "No, stop. That seems like it's getting too close to you sharing your couple kinks with me and I'm going to have to cease and desist this conversation right now."

Hunk only laughed and moved onto the next box to be unpacked.

"I really can't believe you're getting married next month."

"You say that like you don't expect it. Rach and I've been together six years."

"I know," Lance murmured, eyes dipping back to the pretty quartz. He knew exactly how long Hunk and Rachel had been together because they started dating at the same time he and Keith had started dating.

"Most people ask why we've waited so long, to be honest, but, uh…"

Lance raised a brow when Hunk trailed off. "You guys were in college for four of those years. Now you're starting a new bakery together. You've been busy," he reasoned.

"Yeah, those are true things," Hunk said.

"But?"

"We couldn't get married without you here, Lance." Hunk looked at him then, eyes almost apologetic to be sharing the information. "It wasn't just my feelings, either. Rachel was adamant that she wanted you to walk her down the aisle."

Lance sucked in a breath. "She wants me to do that?"

Hunk nodded. "She missed you. I missed you. You left a lot of people behind, you know? We didn't just lose your dad, we also lost you and we lost you and Keith as a couple. And, man, your mom and sibs really latched onto Keith, they've probably told you by now. Keith came to me early on because he wasn't sure what he should do, keep coming to the house or disappear himself? I told him that everyone tried to smile a bit more when he was there, so he kept coming around for them."

Lance sunk to the ground, back pressed up against the cabinets behind him. Face in his hands, he fought the tears he knew were coming. Hunk's shoulder bumped him when he sat next to him.

"Lance?"

"Keith did my job for the family and you guys did my job taking care of Keith. I let everyone down, Hunk, just because I couldn't handle…" A sob worked its way up his throat and Hunk pulled him into his side for a hug. "Now I'm back and papa is still gone and I've lost Keith and I feel like I'm the only one grieving because you all grieved back when it happened, when we were supposed to."

"There isn't a set time for grieving, Leandro," Rachel whispered from his other side. He hadn't even heard her come in, but her weight pressed in on him reassuringly from his other side.

It was the cry that should've happened the other night when his mother broached the subject with him. Or even five years ago when they'd lost his father so unexpectedly. It was a heavy and draining cry, but Hunk and Rachel remained pressed into his sides throughout, shedding some of their own tears with him.

As hard as he'd fought to keep the tears at bay all these years, he almost couldn't believe how much lighter he felt when Hunk helped pull him to his feet afterwards.

* * *

"Are you okay?"

Lance rubbed the back of his hand across his nose, fully aware that he was an ugly crier and Keith was asking because his eyes were still red-rimmed. Hell, his entire face was probably still a bit red, despite the cold water he'd splashed onto it. The only way to avoid Keith seeing, however, was to wait it out until he no longer looked red and gross. Waiting it out would've meant being late for his meeting with Keith and no way was he going to be late.

"I'm good," he said and offered a somewhat wobbly smile to Keith. He truly did feel better than he looked. Plus, he was happier now that he was with Keith and Belle. If only his eyes would cooperate…

"Okay," Keith said slowly. He was hunched over because Belle had both his hands within her own, guiding him (or more likely using him as support) as she led them towards the stream that ran through the park.

"She's fast," Lance observed, and he had to smile at the way her little feet kicked forward with each step in her haste to reach the water.

"Well, only when she's holding something, like me or a walker toy. She thinks she can run."

Belle shrieked a loud laugh as they reached the stream and when Keith wouldn't allow her to walk right into the water, she extended one little leg out and growled to try to get closer. Lance laughed, especially when he saw Keith's mouth twitch.

Lance dropped to a crouch next to her with a smile. "Your daddy is trying to make sure you don't drown, you little water lover."

Belle blew a raspberry at him and he booped her nose. Keith had used a tiny elastic band to pull her baby curls to the top her head so she sorta looked like a pineapple, but a cute pineapple. When she giggled at the nose boop, he did it again, earning another laugh. Belle pulled her hands free from Keith and practically fell into Lance's arms.

"Swooning for me already," he laughed, catching her easily and standing with her on his hip. He looked to Keith and caught a soft expression as Keith watched the two of them. A breeze blew some of Keith's bangs into his face and Lance didn't even think before he swept them behind Keith's ear, fingers lingering along his jawline when Keith didn't flinch or jerk away from the initial touch. His fingertips tingled as he touched Keith for the first time in five years, and he was hesitant to remove his hand considering the way Keith's violet eyes were watching him, almost as if he was waiting for something else from Lance.

"Mr. Kogane."

Lance pulled his hand away at the interruption and they both turned to the young woman approaching them.

"Ms. Adler," Keith said, "this is Lance McClain. Lance, this is our case worker, Ms. Adler."

Lance shifted Belle slightly on his hip so that he could hold her with one hand while extending his other hand to offer a handshake. "It's nice to meet you. Keith has been telling me how helpful you've been with his adoption application. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that."

He could feel Keith's side eye but he only grinned wider, tone as sincere as possible. _You kill more flies with honey_ his papa's voice reminded him.

Ms. Adler shook his hand and replied with a somewhat bashful, "Well, I am doing my best."

"Your job must be so fulfilling," Lance continued, beginning to rock back and forth with a comforting hand rubbing Belle's back. "I'd love to be able to make people's dreams of adding to their family come true every day."

"Oh, well, yes, that is certainly one of my favorite parts."

"I can't wait for the day when you can add a picture of us to your happy family wall, eh?" He wrapped an arm around Keith's shoulders and pulled him in close, smiling as if they were posing for an actual photo. And with Keith pressed close, he could feel Keith's (silent) huff of laughter.

Ms. Adler smiled pleasantly at them. "Well, that would be nice," she said sincerely. "To that end, I have some official paperwork that needs a few signatures from you, Mr. McClain -"

"Lance, please."

"Lance, thank you. Just some forms for a standard background check and such. Shall we?" She pointed to a nearby picnic table.

Lance nodded and kept his arm around Keith as they began to walk over. He felt Keith tentatively place an arm around his waist, but as soon as that arm was in place, Keith's hold tightened, and Keith seemed to melt into Lance's side.

"She seems to have taken to you already," Ms. Adler commented as she watched Belle lay her head down on Lance's shoulder. "Mr. Kogane says you've been long distance this entire time since she's been in his custody?"

"Yes, I was in Spain for college and then a one-year business graduate program, but I'm happy to be home again," Lance explained before dropping an easy lie, "I'm glad she enjoys me in person as much as she enjoyed my grainy picture on video calls. I'm certainly happy to be home to see them both in person."

"Have you two been together long?"

"Yeah, he snatched me up junior year of high school."

"Pretty sure it was the other way around," Keith muttered. " _You_ came to my baseball game, even wore a baseball tee and your snapback the right way," he added with a small mouth twitch.

Lance laughed, "Okay, but before that _you_ came to my house to work on a chemistry project three times in a week even though we'd finished the project during the first visit."

"You kept inviting me over!"

Lance shrugged as if to say, ' _Well, he's got me there'_ as he turned back to Ms. Adler, who he noticed, was watching them with a small half-smile.

"That is a long time," she said. "Well, the reason for the background check is because Belle is officially still a ward of the state and she shouldn't spend time with you alone, Lance, until we have the results. But it sounds as if this is a quite serious relationship. Do you have plans to move in together soon?"

Lance heard Keith suck in a breath at her question, but he just said, "Sounds like Keith's brother asking me about my intentions with his baby brother," he said with a chuckle and earned a chuckle from Ms. Adler as well. "To be honest, we don't want to push too many changes on Belle at one time. I'm sure we're heading in that direction, but our main focus right now isn't on us, it's to make sure Belle is settled and taken care of."

"It certainly sounds as if you're taking this very seriously," Ms. Adler said with a nod.

He tightened the arm he had around Keith's shoulder. "You can rest assured that I'm not going anywhere," he said, tone less jovial and more serious than earlier. "I'm actually pretty honored that Keith would ask me to join him in this endeavor." _Not a lie_.

Keith's head turned and he felt Keith's nose nudge reassuringly into his shoulder.

"My family loves him, too," Lance added, suddenly desperate to change the subject before Ms. Adler could dive back into questions about his and Keith's plans for the future. "Belle doesn't have too many words yet but she's already calling my mama _abuela_ , which brightens my mom's day every time she hears it."

"That is sweet," Ms. Adler said. "Would you say that you have a strong support network with your family?"

Lance dove into stories about his older siblings, his niece and nephew, his mother (all the babysitters they'd have on hand). How his best friend was marrying his sister. How much fun Belle was going to have on the farm in the rows of corn and the few animals they still had.

He had to slowly transfer a sleeping Belle from his shoulder to Keith's when it was time to sign the paperwork and then he stretched his arms over his head as they watched Ms. Adler walk back to her car.

"I think that went well," he said.

"Yeah, you – I almost forgot how charming you can be when you want to be."

"I'm pretty sure I'm charming all the time?" Lance quipped, "Either way, I really hope it reflects well on your file. You really deserve this. And so does Belle."

"Thanks, Lance."

"I've got you," he said with a fond smile. "You, uh, you two going to dinner?" he tried for nonchalance, but knew his tone was filled with a hopeful question.

"No, not really. I'm going to get her fed quickly and then I have to work."

He pushed down his disappointment and pressed on. "Do you have any free time on Saturday? I'd really like a chance to get to know Belle, if that's okay with you?"

Keith glanced down at Belle in consideration before he nodded. "There's a new toddler safe playground at Plum Park?"

"Sounds fun. See you at…?"

"Three? She usually naps after lunch, but she should be up by then."

"Looking forward to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case anyone is going to ask, I honesty do not have definite notes for how Lance's father died, just that it was sudden and caught everyone by surprise. 
> 
> And one more note, while L&K are spending time together because Keith needs a fake boyfriend, the "fake relationship trope" is really only present when the case worker is present, which is to say, the trope itself doesn't appear too often. I hope that's not too big of a story disappointment for anyone, especially since I'll still have them spending time together... 
> 
> Thank you guys for reading this story. It's been a rough couple months and writing and posting/sharing has added some familiarity back to my life. The next chapter still needs a bit more work from me, but I'm still hoping to post it tomorrow - with the goal of having the entire story posted before I have to go back to work <3


	4. Chapter 4

When the knocking didn't stop, Keith managed to get up and open the door. And when he saw that it was Lance on the other side, he nodded a slow and silent hello before turning and walking back to where Belle was strapped into her highchair.

"Keith?"

"How'd you know where I lived?" He glanced at Lance long enough to see that he was entering the apartment and closing the door behind himself.

"Hunk told me. Don't be mad at him, I was worried when you didn't show up at the park and then you weren't responding to my texts."

Keith's brows furrowed as he remembered that he was supposed to meet Lance today. He also wasn't sure where he'd left his phone…

"Sorry about that," Keith said. "I didn't mean to waste your afternoon or make you worry."

"I'm just glad to see you're both okay." Lance had reached the table and Keith could practically feel Lance's gaze on him. "Hey, man, _are_ you okay?"

A cool hand pressed itself to Keith's forehead and his eyes fells shut as he fought the urge to lean into it. Or just collapse face first onto the table.

"Does your head hurt?" Lance asked, voice quieter than it had a been a moment before.

Keith nodded and reopened his eyes with some effort when Lance removed his hand.

"Anything else? I want to know which medicine to grab for you."

"Throat," Keith admitted. "But I can't take anything, it all knocks me out. I have to take care of Belle." He pointed uselessly to the little girl who stared up at them while munching on pieces of toast and raspberries. It wasn't the most balanced dinner but it was literally all he could manage tonight.

"I'll take care of her," Lance assured. "You should just go get in bed. I'll bring you some medicine and then Belle and I will hang out here. If I run into any trouble with her, I promise to call my mom or Lisa in for reinforcements, okay?"

Keith hardly ever let anyone watch Belle, certain that he needed to take care of her himself. But his head was so fuzzy he was having a hard time finding a good reason why he _shouldn't_ go get in bed, something his body was begging him to do.

Blue eyes filled his vision as he turned towards Lance and found him crouched in front of him. "Please, Keith?"

It was the last thing Keith remembered before blearily forcing his eyelids open sometime later. He rolled over in his bed and found his phone plugged in to charge on his bedside table. His eyes blinked repeatedly at the brightness when he swiped it open to see what time it was.

But when he saw that it was 9:36, he jolted upright.

And then regretted it immediately when he was hit with dizziness.

He must've groaned or made some other sound because there was a light knock on his bedroom door before Lance entered with Belle on his hip. He lowered Belle to the bed and she quickly crawled across the blanket until she was sitting in his lap, a handful of his loose hair in her fist.

"You okay?"

"It's so late," Keith said, voice hoarse. "Belle should be in bed already."

Lance scratched the side of his face as if in thought and glanced at the phone in Keith's hand.

"You know its morning, right? And not night?"

Alarm shot through Keith. "What?" He pushed himself out of bed, keeping Belle in his arms since she wasn't letting go of his hair, and made it to his window to push aside his blackout curtains. Sunlight hit his face, making him flinch for more than one reason.

He turned back to Lance. "I'm so sorry. How long was…" he paused and tried to do the math even though he had no idea when he fell asleep. He wasn't even sure how he made it to his bed.

"I'd say you got a solid thirteen hours, which you clearly needed. You looked like death last night," Lance said flatly. "And I _told you_ to go to bed, so don't apologize about sleeping. Belle and I have had a ton of fun. How do you feel now?"

With the panic of not being there to care for Belle subsiding, Keith hugged Belle a little closer. His throat wasn't burning anymore and his head was more of a dull ache than the pounding from yesterday.

"I do feel a lot better," he admitted. "Mainly just a smaller headache now."

"You've got some color back," Lance said as he approached and lay the back of his hand on Keith's forehead again. "Not that you have a lot of color to begin with," he teased. Keith huffed a breath, strong enough to send some of Belle's curls into motion. "You want to take a shower? Belles and I can hang out."

"I think you've been trapped here long enough," Keith protested. "You have to want to get out of here."

"Keith," Lance said slowly, "there's literally nowhere else I'd rather be."

 _As if that was just a thing to say to your ex-boyfriend_ , Keith thought as he stared back at Lance. As if the ex-boyfriend didn't look pitiful and gross from being ill. As if Lance hadn't just taken care of a toddler on his own for thirteen strait hours.

Keith sighed, part defeat, part acceptance, and part _hope_ that Lance meant what he said.

When he rejoined Lance and Belle in the kitchen after his shower, he spotted a blanket from his hall closest folded on the couch, so at least Lance had been somewhat comfortable the night before.

Belle toddled over to him and attached herself to his leg as Lance also came over and handed him two pills and a glass of water.

"Just headache meds," Lance assured. "Not the knock-out cold med from last night."

"Thanks," Keith said, shuffling with the tiny girl clutching his leg until he reached the kitchen table and could sit. He'd taken a short shower, but he already felt like he'd been standing for too long.

Lance placed eggs in front of him, scrambled, full of cheese, and exactly how Keith liked them. He ate every bite and then let Lance lead him to the couch. Lance pulled up one of the singing cartoon shows that Belle loved and that Keith had already seen too many times.

He didn't care right now, though, because his feet were in Lance's lap and the pillow under his head as fell back to sleep smelled like Lance.

* * *

Lance thought Keith was going to put up more of a fight about going to bed and leaving Belle with him last night. But then Keith had basically slumped onto the table as if he'd planned on sleeping there, and Lance had to practically carry him to his bedroom, force him to sit up long enough to take some NyQuil, and then tuck him in. All while getting Belle out of her highchair and trying to carry her at the same time.

He didn't take the time to check out Keith's bedroom, just tried to hush Belle as she tried to jabber to a sleeping Keith before returning to the kitchen with her. He dug around in Keith's fridge and pantry to see what other food he had. He finally resorted to a toddler microwave meal from the pantry. The trickiest part about the entire ordeal was figuring out how to buckle Belle back into the highchair. It didn't seem like it should be hard… but there were straps that came over her shoulders? Had those been in place when he hastily unbuckled her earlier? He couldn't remember.

He handed her a fork when the mac n cheese meal was ready but when she only managed to fling food on the floor, he took the fork away and began to feed her bite by bite, chattering away with her the entire time, even if their conversation didn't make any sense. He fed her until she began to push the fork away.

"Time to play with Lancey Lance," he exclaimed to her as he carried her over to the main room where a toy basket was located (it was the exact same basket his mother had in their living room at the farmhouse which had him thinking this basket was likely a gift from his mama). Their play was similar to when she had been to his house for dinner, mainly scattering the toys and handing him certain ones. It was all fun and games until a certain smell hit him and he realized he was going to have to figure out the diaper situation…

He carried Belle into her room but stalled at the door. Every wall in Keith's apartment was a light grey color, likely the standard from the landlord, but Belle's bedroom walls were a light purple. Above her crib was her name spelled out prettily in white paint. The white wood of the crib matched the dresser, matched the bookshelf, matched the rocker. There was a soft blanket in her bed and a few stuffed animals. The bookshelf was almost completely full of board books, with the exception of a few parenting books on the top shelf. There was a humidifier on the floor and a white noise machine on the dresser next to where the changing pad and diapers were located.

Keith had put so much effort into sweetly decorating this room for his daughter that it hit Lance once again how deeply embedded this little girl was in Keith's life. How much they'd both suffer if Belle was taken away.

"I'm gonna make sure this adoption goes through, Belle," he murmured into her soft black hair before he lowered her to the changing pad and buckled the straps around her belly. "But, first. Do you think you could give me a play by play on how this diaper thing works? Or do you have two seconds for me to find a YouTube tutorial?"

Belle garbled an incomprehensible sting of words to him and he nodded seriously until she stopped.

"So, it can't be that hard and just wing it? That's what you're saying?"

It… was an experience. So was figuring out the diaper genie. But he managed.

He dug out some pajamas while they were in there and changed her into those. He also found Keith's phone next to the wipes' container. Since the phone was dead, he took the opportunity to creep into Keith's room, trying to shush Belle the entire time, even though Keith didn't budge while they were in there. He plugged Keith's phone into the charger on his bedside table and pressed a hand to Keith's forehead, relieved to find it not as warm as it had been earlier.

When they returned to the living room, Belle began to crankily chant "Ba ba ba ba," and Lance was pretty sure he knew what that meant.

He found sippy cups in the drying rack and a cannister of formula next to the sink. "You don't happen to know how many scoops you get, do ya, Belles?" Lance murmured as he tried to read the instructions on the side of the cannister.

Belle switched from "Ba ba ba" to "Da da da" and Lance had to agree that Keith would have likely already had this handled by now.

"We can't ask him, though. Wait!" Lance scooped her up and dashed into the hall bathroom. He set her on the ground for a second while he jumped on the scale to weigh himself, then lifted her again and weighed the two of them. "Okay, we can do this," he said to her as he tickled her belly and rushed back to the kitchen, finally able to follow the formula directions now that he knew her weight.

She gratefully took her cup when it was ready and settled herself against his chest as he carried her back to the living room, veering paths before he reached the couch to return to Belle's room instead. He turned on the white noise machine, sat in the rocker, and just rocked them as she drank her formula. She used one hand to hold the cup while the other seemed to search for something before finally grabbing a handful of Lance's shirt to hold. It was only later, when Lance thought about it, that he realized she was likely used to holding Keith's braid in that free hand.

When she let her cup sit in her lap and looked adequately sleepy, Lance stood and lowered her into the crib. He covered her with the blanket but froze when he took another look at the stuffed animals in the corner of the crib. He lifted a well-loved hippo and stared at its familiar face, remembering the night he'd won this for Keith at the county fair. The way Keith had excitedly shaken Lance's arm when he'd successfully hit every target. Keith's smile when Lance handed him the hippo. The way Keith had tasted like cotton candy when he'd kissed him in thanks.

"Po-po," Belle murmured as she pulled the hippo from his hands and sleepily rolled over with it.

Lance turned off her light, there was a nightlight that shone a galaxy onto her ceiling, and closed her door as he left. He leaned against the hallway wall and took a few deep breaths. It almost hurt to have a flashback to when Keith was _his_ while he was in Keith's apartment - spending time in Keith's world - while Keith was definitely _not his_.

He breathed through it, though, reminded himself that he really would rather be here helping Keith than literally anywhere else, and dug through Keith's hall closet for a blanket. He set up camp on the couch, turned on the television, and audibly gasped when he saw Keith's digital movie collection. There weren't hundreds of movies here, there were _thousands_ of movies. Keith had them arranged by genre and Lance scrolled through them, almost frowning when he saw movie titles that he'd never expect Keith to ever watch.

He thinks he maybe got through half a movie before he fell asleep on the couch. He'd like to say that there was beautiful sunlight streaming through the windows when he heard Belle waking up in the morning, but it was instead still _very_ dark outside.

He managed to change another diaper and took a good guess that a sippy cup of formula would be sufficient for her for a while. Belle toddled around the kitchen with her cup while he yawned and got the coffee maker working. Then they sat with their cups in the living room and watched an overly chipper musical show in a digital movie folder he found labeled "Hell's Belles". At least until he woke up enough to properly cook them some eggs.

He was happy to see Keith looking less like death when he finally woke up a few hours later. Happy to feed Keith. Happy to see Keith dip into another nap on the couch in their company, which seemed to relax Belle a bit as well.

And when Keith woke from his couch nap, Lance peered over the side of the couch to watch Keith's face as he blinked and stretched himself awake.

"Your eyes look better. Clearer."

Keith blinked a few more times and nodded. "Yeah," Keith said, voice raspy and delightful.

"Come on," Lance said, offering Keith a hand to help pull him from the couch, "I made us some dinner."

"Thank you," Keith said as he settled at the table and smiled at Belle, already strapped in her highchair and currently chewing on a plastic spoon as she waited for her dinner. Belle grinned back and began to bang her spoon against the highchair tray with a loud squeal.

"Okay, okay, chiquita, I've got you," Lance admonished with a laugh. Belle stopped banging her spoon and Lance paused when he realized he was being watched by two identical head tilts, two identical eyebrow furrows. He smiled at the two of them and wished he could take a picture. Instead, he placed the breakfast casserole he'd made in the middle of the table so Keith could serve himself while he began to serve Belle, making sure the ham was cut into tiny pieces.

"This is so good, Lance," Keith said after a few of his own bites.

"I'm glad you like it," Lance said, digging into his own piece now that Keith and Belle were both fed. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked and then waited for Keith's nod. "Where does Belle go when you go to work?"

"She doesn't go anywhere. I work from home when she's asleep."

Lance frowned. He thought about how late into the night Keith must have to work and how very early Belle was up this morning. "So, when do you sleep?"

"I don't need much sleep. I get by. And it's not like I only work at night, I try to take advantage when she naps during the day, too."

Lance chewed his next bite slowly, thinking about how exhausted Keith had appeared every time he'd seen him since his return. "I feel like… you got sick because you ran yourself into the ground, Keith. Have you thought about getting a babysitter? Even if it's just a few hours during the day so you can get more sleep at night?"

Keith shrugged a bit and kept his eyes on his food. "I feel like I should be the one taking care of her," he said quietly. "Plus, it's just been worse lately because she had two teeth coming in," Keith rationalized, "so she wasn't napping well and there were a lot of interruptions at night."

Lance didn't want to push him, but this didn't seem sustainable, especially if something that was just a normal part of baby growth, like teething, began a cascade that resulted in Keith being so sick that he couldn't care for her. Kids teethed multiple times. Did Keith get this sick the last few times Belle had new teeth? Had he reached out for help from anyone? (Probably not). And what was going to happen when Belle got sick? And if Keith caught that illness, too?

The only thing Lance knew for sure was that now that he was back, he was going to _show up_ for Keith and Belle.

"What do you do for work?" he asked, deciding to let the other subject drop for now.

"Well, I got a bachelor of science in architectural studies," Keith said as he scooped another piece of casserole onto his plate.

"Wow," Lance said, impressed.

Keith huffed a small laugh, "Yeah, I don't use the degree at all."

Lance laughed, "No?"

Keith shook his head. "I spent a lot of my free time in college feeling snarky and watching movies."

Lance's expression dropped but Keith rolled his eyes at him and sent him a small, mischievous smile.

"Some of the movies were so dumb." Keith was cutting his food into the tiniest pieces and Lance soon realized Belle had already finished what he'd given her as Keith transferred the food to her tray. "And I maybe started leaving reviews."

Lance's eyes narrowed. "Happy, pleasant reviews?"

"Nope," Keith said, popping the p in the word.

"Are you telling me you became a movie critic? Is that why you have the biggest digital movie collection I've ever seen?"

"I just wrote _honest_ reviews of movies and I guess others thought they were funny because people started to share them. I'd post a review and by the next morning it would've been shared thousands of times."

"Keith, are you an online celebrity?" Lance asked with a wide grin.

Keith rolled his eyes again. "Before I graduated, I had an online site reach out and ask if I'd become their freelance movie critic. I figured I could do it on the side," Keith said with a shrug, "but after a few months I was approached by a bigger online news site that offered an exclusive contract, and ..." He shrugged again. "I just never got around to looking for an architect job."

Lance was still grinning. "Your job is to watch movies and then provide your _honest_ review of them?"

Keith nodded. "I'll analyze movie ticket data, too. But everything I do, I do from here. I don't go to film festivals or anything."

Lance pulled his phone from his pocket. "What's the news site?"

Keith shook his head, mouth twitching and eyes amused. "I'm not telling you."

"Keith!" Lance said.

"Keef!" Belle squawked, kicking her legs and grinning at the two of them as she ate.

"A bajillion people get to read your work all the time and you won't let me? Are you serious?"

Keith's mouth twitched again and he nodded as he pulled his own phone from his pocket.

Lance's eyes narrowed as Keith began to type into his phone. "Does my family know who you work for?"

"Yeah, but I'm texting them now to ask them not to tell you."

Lance made another squawking noise (which Belle happily mimicked) as he scrambled to text his family himself. He got quick negative responses in the family group chat. He tossed his phone to the tabletop and squinted at Keith's innocent face as Keith took another happy bite of his food. He seemed to already know that the McClains were choosing his side over Lance's.

"Okay, it's on, Kogane. I'll find you myself."

"Good luck with that."

* * *

Keith paused the movie he'd been watching when he heard Belle begin to wake from her nap. Walking into her room and having her coo at him and lift her little arms so he could rescue her from her crib, all soft and still sleepy, so that he she'd usually rest her head on his collarbone and snuggle a few minutes before she'd truly wake and begin to destroy the main room, was his favorite part of every day.

He changed her diaper and was headed towards the kitchen for a snack when there was a knock on the door. He wasn't disappointed to find Lance on the other side of the door, just surprised.

"Hey, Belles," Lance said, leaning down to get eye level with her, something that not everyone did and that he admired about Lance. Belle began a steady stream of gibberish noises that included the word "Lon" here and there that Keith was pretty sure was supposed to be Lance's name. Lance did too if the giddy grin on his face meant anything.

"What are you doing here?" Keith asked, hoping it didn't sound too abrasive. He swung the door open wider so Lance could enter.

"You said she normally wakes up about now, so I thought I'd come over and play with her and you can get some more work done. You know - during the daylight hours." He wiggled his fingers in Belle's direction and she lifted her arms towards Lance.

"Um, are you sure?" Keith asked, thinking about the movie he had to finish today as he handed Belle over.

Lance swung Belle around in a circle and she squealed out a laugh. "Yup. Are you working out here? Want us to play in her room?"

Keith shook his head. "No, I have a projector in my bedroom, too, so I can finish what I have to do back there. You two can hang out here. I was just about to give her a snack."

"Cool, I can do that." Lance swung Belle onto his hip and headed towards the kitchen. "You want a banana or puffs today Belley-boo?"

Keith watched them go and then quietly made his way back to his room to finish his current project. He kept half an ear open for Belle while he worked, but while there were a lot of happy squeals, he only heard her fuss once or twice.

And when he was finished a couple hours later, he returned to find that Lance had made spaghetti. He was already cutting the noodles into tiny pieces for Belle.

"You finish?" Lance asked brightly, as if he hadn't been entertaining a toddler for two hours, something Keith knew could be draining (it wasn't the playing that was necessarily draining - he had previously decided - it was likely the constant supervision to make sure she didn't die).

Keith nodded. "I did. Thanks, Lance. I won't even know what to do with myself when she goes to bed later."

" _Sleep_ ," Lance emphasized while looking particularly pleased and relieved. Keith wasn't sure why Lance felt relief, it wasn't like Lance had to make sure Keith met his deadlines.

"I made you guys spaghetti using my mama's sauce recipe." Keith's eyes lit up and Lance's grin grew wider. "I'm going to leave you to it." He kissed the top of Belle's head, sent Keith some cheesy finger guns, and then was out the door before Keith had a chance to say anything else.

Keith isn't sure what he would've said, if given a proper chance. But he felt a little unsettled with Lance gone.

* * *

The next day, Lance knocked on his door right after naptime again. He shooed Keith away to work, played with Belle, and made them dinner before quickly exiting as they sat to eat.

The same thing happened the next day. And the next.

A solid week went by before Keith finally managed to ask Lance to stay and eat with them. Lance agreed easily, looking pleased as he filled his own plate and quickly joined them at the table.

"How do you have time to come over and do this every day?" Keith was almost afraid to ask, as if pointing out that this was taking a lot of Lance's time would make Lance realize it too, which might lead to less Lance visits. But Lance had to have his own life, too. It was beginning to feel irresponsible to take so much of his time every day. "Aren't you the third partner in Hunk and Rachel's bakery? Hunk's last text to me was that they were never going to get everything set up in time for their opening date."

"Hunk is being dramatic," Lance said with a wave of his hand. "First of all, I'm the business and finance guy for the bakery. I've got the investors signed on and I've found the funding for the equipment, rent, etc. Most of my work is finished until they actually open. And second of all, Hunk and Rachel won't let me touch any of their kitchen equipment so the fact that they keep rearranging everything is on them. They could probably open tomorrow if they'd just stop touching stuff and finalize their menu."

Keith laughed at that and Lance seemed to stop his tirade to just watch. Then Lance shrugged, almost timid and explained that he didn't have much else to do currently because he was new to the area, professionally-speaking, and he was still putting out feelers to other businesses to offer similar services. "I feel like, once the bakery takes off, which we know it will with Hunk and Rachel in the kitchen, then I'll have something significant on my resume for other businesses to take note of."

Knowing how charming Lance was, Keith had no doubt he'd have a slew of clients to choose from in the future. For now, he sat back and enjoyed his dinner. He tried not to let himself get used to relying on Lance to come over every day, but… He gets used to relying on Lance to come over every day.

And since he's getting more sleep at night (he knows that's Lance's main goal), he finds that he has more energy for everyday chores that he used to let stack up until the absolute last second (the laundry is getting washed more frequently versus waiting till everything is dirty, the bathrooms are getting wiped down more often, he has more energy to make a list for the grocery store instead of wandering aimlessly and tossing in random items). Plus, he's maybe a little more observant about what he wears every day, since Lance is going to see him in it.

A few weeks into their arrangement, he finished work and came out to find Lance and Belle zonked out together on the couch. Belle sleeping on Lance's chest, half her face smooshed into his sweater, little rosebud mouth open as she dozed. Both of Lance's large hands were resting on her back and he released a light snore with every exhale. It was way too late in the afternoon for Belle to be sleeping, which meant that she was going to be a terror later and refuse to go to bed at bedtime. Keith sorta wanted to be upset about this impromptu nap. But… This was probably the cutest shit he'd ever seen. He pulled his phone from his pocket and took a picture.

Then he left them there and let them wake up to the smell of the dinner he cooked for them that night. Lance looked pretty sheepish when they woke and even offered to stay after dinner and help Keith settle her for the night.

"A bath would help calm her for sleep, right? Let me help."

Keith grinned and said nothing else, only because Lance had clearly never seen Belle in a bath. He sat on the closed toilet seat with one leg pulled up to his chest while Lance sat on the floor next to the tub and did his best to get Belle clean while Belle repeatedly yelled " _Waves_!" and kicked her feet to create a dramatic ocean-like storm in their tub.

"I feel like you're enjoying this too much," Lance stated to Keith once his shirt and pants were completely soaked.

"Yup," Keith replied with a wide smile, although he did let Lance borrow some dry clothes to go home in later.

When Lance was not at Keith's place, he was keeping in touch. Keith wakes up to _Good morning_ texts. Texts asking if Belle ate her meal or threw most of it on the floor. Picture texts of parks or playgrounds he thinks Belle would like. One day Keith got a picture text of tiny hiking boots and a caption asking Keith for Belle's shoe size. Lance also started sending Keith memes from dad comics that are hysterical in how truthfully funny they are.

But then he'll also text reviews he finds online. He still hasn't figured out which reviewer is Keith, but Keith is enjoying watching him try.

11:57 am: _The movie is shockingly unfunny, largely boring, and a waste of talent_

12:02 pm: **A kid could've written that one. I'm a little offended that you think its one of mine**

12:03 pm: _So I'm looking for snark closer to your response to me vs what I found_

12:03 pm _: Understood_

* * *

10:10 am: _Messy, lazy, and too reliant on unnecessary butt and fart jokes_

10:15 am: **No**

* * *

5:46 am: _When they combine the human with the CGI animal in the same scene, they don't seem to be occupying the same screen. Or planet. Or dimension really_

5:48 am: **Why are you up this early?**

5:50 am: _Kaltenecker submitted a verbal request that her breakfast should be served before the chickens bc shes been here longer and has seniority and I cant argue with that kind of logic_

Keith snort laughed and was glad Lance wasn't here to hear it. He was supposed to be irritated to be woken up this early, not amused by how funny Lance could be, no matter the hour of the day.

5:51 am: _Is that a yay or a nay on the review?_

5:52 am: **Nay**

* * *

9:10 pm: _I wasn't expecting this to be good, but I also wasn't expecting it to be quite this bad_

9:15 pm: **I've have had that thought. Never typed it out**

* * *

1:15 pm: _Everyone knows that if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all. Less well known is the adage: 'You can't publish a movie review that is entirely blank.'_

1:20 pm: **Okay, that one is funny. Wish I could claim it**

1:21 pm: _At least I'm finally getting warmer_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **None of the movie reviews included in this story are my own (I did edit a few of them)


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm so glad you're here," Mama McClain said as she wrapped Keith and Belle up in a hug together. "Are you sure Shiro didn't mind us stealing you for Thanksgiving? He's not alone is he?"

Keith shook his head. "No, he's meeting Curtis' family this weekend," he explained while also offering her a plastic bag.

"Keith!" I told you that you didn't have to bring anything!"

"Yeah, I, uh, I really went all out," he said, dryly as he handed over the plastic bag that contained two cans of cranberry sauce.

She patted his cheek twice before leading him into the kitchen. "You're a sweet boy for bringing something and we're going to enjoy it. You know the canned cranberry is the only type Marco will eat."

Keith barely had time to drop the bookbag full of Belle's stuff out of the way before he was being scooped up into another hug by said McClain brother.

"Keith!" Marco yelled as he squeezed Keith tight. Keith laughed and did his best to protect Belle from the python-like hug. "Man, she's gotten so much bigger than the last picture I saw," Marco said, ducking a bit to Belle's level to grin at her.

Marco had moved away for his new job before Belle had come into Keith's life, although he had met her over the summer when he'd come home for a visit. He didn't count on Belle remembering him, however, and Keith watched her tilt her head and furrow her brows as she regarded Marco. Since he'd cut several inches off his hair, Keith wondered if Belle was considering how closely he currently resembled Lance. Belled tugged at Keith's braid and he had to pull it out of her mouth when she tried to chew on it again.

He managed to untangle himself from Marco, wave to Veronica who was working in the kitchen, and then pick a spot on the living room floor to sit so he could release Belle to play with Nadia. Sylvio lay sprawled across a chair, attention focused on a handheld video game. Keith was talking to Luis and Lisa (and wondering where Lance was – Keith had texted him earlier to say he was on his way over) when Hunk and Rachel entered the kitchen bearing two large boxes.

"I can't believe you had time to bake all of these," Mama McClain exclaimed as they began to unload several different flavors of pie.

"She means that seriously," Ronnie said, also wide-eyed at all the pies. "Your wedding is in about a week and the grand opening for the bakery days after that. Are you two sleeping?"

"Hunk stress bakes," Rachel stated.

"And Rachel stress rearranges the kitchen," Hunk added, "so then the baking takes longer because I can't find anything."

Every McClain head began nodding in agreement; they'd all experienced Rachel stress rearranging the entire house.

"Well, go sit and relax now."

"We were going to help with dinner," Hunk tried to protest.

"Go. Sit. Down."

Hunk pouted but obeyed, joining Keith on the floor.

"I got it!"

Keith's head popped up as Lance bounded in the room, waving papers above his head.

" _This movie was possibly acted out by the food court staff of the local mall_ ," Lance read from one of the sheets of paper as soon as he was standing in the space between the living room and kitchen.

Hunk snorted and Lance's mother and Ronnie both shook their heads with smiles before turning back to the food.

"You really didn't tell him which reviews were yours?" Rachel asked Keith with a laugh.

Lance ignored them all and read the next review from his pages of research. " _I've had mosquito bites more passionate than the so-called romantic chemistry of this pair_."

"It's Keith, of course he didn't tell him. He's not a quitter," Luis laughed.

" _The scariest part of this movie is that there may be a sequel_ ," Lance continued, meeting Keith's eyes with a mischievous grin. He flipped to the next page to read the next review. " _The plot is so jarring that I actually wondered if I drifted off a few times and missed key points_."

"That was a good one," Lisa murmured.

"And my personal favorite," Lance said as he walked towards Keith and kneeled in front of him as he read the next one, " _If we do leave Earth one day, please leave this one behind. I don't care if I have to watch the Twilight series on repeat because we didn't bring enough movies to watch. Just don't make me watch this one again_."

"Lon Lon," Belle said as he crawled into Lance's lap to face Keith, leaving Keith suddenly faced with grins from his two favorite people (and missing the knowing looks shared between all the other adults in the room as they watched the three of them).

"These have to be yours," Lance said, face beaming because he was so sure he was right.

Keith had kept his face blank throughout, but he felt the corner of his mouth twitch.

"Yes!" Lance whooped, throwing his arms in the air and letting the pages scatter.

"Yes!" Belle cheered.

"Let's eat," Lance's mother announced.

* * *

Belle's babbling was nonstop as Lance sat with her that afternoon. He was starting to pick more words out of the gibberish, although Keith was still the master at knowing what she was saying or what she wanted, something Lance thought was pretty impressive.

She was currently carrying around a small plastic cash register, although she held the microphone piece up to her ear and kept saying " _Ello_?" before breaking into a long gibberish-filled rant as she toddled around. Lance pulled his phone and began to take a video of what sounded like a serious call.

"Are you running a business?" Lance asked with a laugh. "Having troubles with your distributors?"

His smiles and laughter came easy at Keith and Belle's place, but he smiled as he remembered how his mama had taken him aside after Thanksgiving to say how happy she was to see him at peace. Lance had made it through Thanksgiving dinner - at the table with his entire family - without tears and without going quiet. He _had_ felt peaceful that night, peaceful and thankful to be there. His mama had also commended him for how well rested and calm Keith had appeared as well. He hadn't needed that sort of recognition, but it still warmed him from the inside out to know that he'd already made a visible difference in Keith's life.

Belle returned to his side and held the microphone out to him. He leaned in and said, "Hello?"

She didn't grin in response, though, just stared hard at him with her Keith-like eyes, as if she were expecting him to tell off whoever was on the other end of her call.

An unexpected knock on the door saved him from going full 'Can I speak to your manager' on her imaginary business associate. He lifted Belle to his hip and looked through the peephole. When he saw the two people on the other side of the door, though, he took a quick breath, braced himself, and plastered on a smile as he opened the door.

"Shiro! Hey, how are you?"

"Shhhhh," Belle also greeted, reaching her arms out for her uncle. Shiro took her easily and planted a kiss on her head before his expression hardened as his eyes scanned Lance's face. He searched behind Lance and didn't wait for an invite before he was walking into Keith's apartment.

"Hi to you, too," James Griffin sneered as he followed Shiro inside.

"Where's Keith?" Shiro asked once he had apparently had a chance to determine that Keith was not in the main room or the kitchen.

"He's in the shower."

Griffin's eyes grew large and his eyebrows rose up his forehead, but Shiro only turned to focus on Lance again with the same calculating expression. "What are you doing here, Lance?"

"Um" - he gestured to the toys on the floor - "entertaining Belle while Keith takes a shower."

Shiro's face hardened. "I don't mean right this second, Lance. Why are you spending time with Keith at all?"

Shiro's cold tone and piercing eyes felt like a sucker punch. Keith hadn't even been this angry with Lance.

"Pidge says she had dinner here with you two the other night," Shiro continued.

Lance had met Keith's friend Pidge, someone he'd bonded with while in college, when Keith had invited her to join them for dinner recently. Lance had been optimistic that it could only mean good things that Keith wanted his two friends to meet. Pidge had been a bit distant and frosty with him at first, but by the end of the night she'd seemed to have relaxed. Lance had hoped it meant he'd made a good impression. He hoped her mentioning it to Shiro was just in passing and not because she sent Shiro over to yell and intimidate.

He swallowed hard and did his best to meet Shiro's eyes and keep his own tone even. "Keith asked me to help him with something."

"Why didn't he ask me?"

"Look, Shiro, I can tell you're upset -"

"Upset doesn't even cover it, Lance. I'm going to ask you to leave Keith alone. I've been encouraging him to take James up on his offers to spend more time with him, get him out of this apartment, and I think he was finally ready to give it a try."

Lance continued to try to keep his voice calm, reminding himself that Shiro was just trying to protect Keith. Shiro had no way of knowing that Lance was doing his best to _take care of_ Keith. Still, he didn't think it was fair of Shiro to ask him to step away.

"Griffin's a jerk, Shiro. And why would you just show up with him like this? You thought just _throwing_ him at Keith would be a good idea?"

"I'm right here," James said with a scowl.

"He's the jerk? Did he leave Keith without a single word for five years?"

" _Shiro_ ," Keith said sharply as he joined them, clothes definitely looking like they'd been tossed on quickly. Belle, who'd had her _Keith eyebrow furrow_ going strong as she'd watched Lance and Shiro speak harshly to each other, looked relieved at Keith's appearance and her arms immediately lifted towards him.

Shiro handed Belle to Keith and Lance watched as the brothers seemed to communicate something to each other via glares.

"Keith's out of the shower, Lance," Griffin said in a calm and pleasant tone. "Looks like you're not needed as a babysitter anymore, if you want to get out of here."

"I don't," Lance practically growled at him.

"Well, since you like it so much, I was going to ask Keith to a movie this week. He always says no because he doesn't like to leave Belle, but maybe you could babysit for us then?"

Lance pursed his lips and forced himself to keep them shut while he continued to glare at James. Whether Keith went out with him was not Lance's call, no matter how much he wanted to shove the smug prick back out the door right now. He did his best to focus the glare at James or the ground, keeping it away from Shiro. Shiro had been a teacher at their high school when he and Keith dated, more of an authority figure than his boyfriend's big brother, so they'd never gotten close back then. The likelihood of it happening now seemed pretty slim, too.

"I already have plans this week, James, I'm sorry," Keith said, completely cordial even as he sent another glare in Shiro's direction.

Shiro didn't notice, however, his attention captured by something on his phone. His head popped up in the next second, though, and he sent a sardonic grin to the three men in the room. "We can just do movies here tonight," Shiro said, his tone more of a direction than a suggestion. "I just ordered three pizzas to be delivered and Keith has a huge movie library, don'tcha Keith?"

"Shiro," Keith huffed.

While Shiro and James debated over what movie to start with, especially since Belle was going to be in the room as well, Lance slid into the kitchen to help Keith pull out plates.

"I can go, if you want?" he quietly offered.

"Do you want to go?"

"No," he said quickly.

"Then stay," Keith said. And maybe he had aimed for nonchalance with his tone, but Lance could visibly see Keith's shoulders relax when he said that he would.

When they returned to the main room, James was already on the couch, so Keith sat in his one armchair, which led to Shiro claiming the entire other half the couch in a weird sprawl. That was fine, Lance didn't want to sit with them anyway. He resigned himself to the floor where Belle was very happy to see him. He spent most of the movie accepting toys she handed him or helping her build a block tower (repeatedly because she loved knocking it over more than she enjoyed the building process).

Playing with Belle also allowed him to move around on the floor, so if he ended up near Keith's feet and wrapped a hand around Keith's foot so that he could rub his thumb reassuringly across his ankle, no one else had to know.

* * *

In the end, it was Belle who saved them, her early bedtime had Keith practically chasing Shiro and James out of the apartment after the first movie while Lance claimed he'd leave as soon as he was finished bagging the trash.

Shiro leaned in and kissed the top of Belle's head before meeting Keith's eye, speaking quietly so that James couldn't hear them.

"Is he spending the night?"

Keith rolled his eyes and answered with a harsh whisper. "It's none of your business, but no, he is not."

"He said you asked him to help you with something? You know I'm here if you need help, Keith."

"I know," Keith said honestly. Shiro had not only saved Keith from foster care, and helped pick Keith back up when Lance disappeared, but he also had shown nothing but support when Keith decided to take in Belle. He'd even shown up with armloads of diapers and baby onesies on Belle's first night home. The anger from Shiro's intrusion drained out of him at the earnest look on Shiro's face. "I know you are, Takashi. This isn't something you can help with, though, okay? I can't talk about it now, but I will tell you about it later."

Shiro's eyes searched his face before deciding he'd have to accept this response for now. He nodded, kissed Belle's head again and told Keith to be safe.

On his way to Belle's room, Keith paused at the kitchen and watched Lance shove the giant pizza boxes into a garbage bag he'd found.

"Sorry about them," Keith said. "Shiro is, uh…"

Lance turned to him and offered a half grin, the smile not reaching his eyes. "No, I get it. It's not the first time an older sibling has yelled at me."

Keith adjusted Belle in his arms as she rested her head against his shoulder. He should really get her into bed, but he couldn't help but ask, "Did you get yelled at by an older sibling of someone you were seeing in Spain?"

Lance chuckled and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "No, nothing like that. I didn't actually see anyone while I was in Spain."

Keith's lungs froze as if they forgot how to do their one job as the impact of those words hit him. "You didn't see anyone? In that entire time?"

"Nah," Lance waved it off, as if that wasn't a bombshell of an admission. "Anyway, I was talking about _my_ older siblings yelling at me recently because they don't want you to get hurt by this arrangement we have going on."

"They yelled at you for me?"

"Don't be surprised, you know they love you more than they love me."

"That's not true," Keith said seriously, meeting Lance's eyes. "They really missed you."

"I know," Lance nodded. "But they do love you. And I… I don't want to hurt you, Keith. I know that I _have_ , but I've never wanted to. Look, can we sit for a second?"

"Yeah," Keith nodded. "Just, um, let me change her and put her in bed. I'll be right back?"

He forwent the bath tonight, it was late and Belle was already sleepy anyway. He gave her a clean diaper and zipped her into onesie pajamas that Lance's mom had gifted her. And even with Lance waiting for him on the couch, he still sat in the rocking chair and rocked her quietly for a few minutes, fingers running through her hair while he hummed a bit.

He'd barely sat next to Lance on the couch before Lance was already speaking.

"I've wanted to apologize to you for forever, Keith."

"You really don't have to," Keith offered.

"No, listen, Keith, I am really sorry. I'm sorry I just left without telling you I was going or saying goodbye." His voice cracked on the last word and he swallowed hard before continuing. "I just… I just knew if I saw your face, I wouldn't be able to leave you. But… with my papa gone..."

Keith sighed and said the thing that had bothered him most about Lance's disappearing act. "And you don't think I – more than anyone else – could've been there for you or helped you as you grieved for your father? I've _been there_ , Lance."

"I wasn't looking for help, Keith," he said quietly. "I couldn't stay in a place where my father didn't exist anymore. Even if it meant… moving to a world where you didn't exist, either."

Keith sucked in his breath and had to look away, the pain in his chest reminiscent of the pain he'd felt in the early days of Lance's disappearance from his life.

"Don't think that it was easy, Keith," Lance said, and even though Keith wasn't looking he could hear how choked Lance's voice was, how much he meant what he was saying. "I missed you so much, I knew almost right away that I'd made a big mistake. But every time I thought about coming back – _every single time_ – I just couldn't. I'd think about walking into the farmhouse kitchen in the morning and not seeing my dad brewing coffee, or…"

Keith leaned in to capture Lance's attention from where it had wandered as Lance stared across the room. "I get that, Lance. And I don't blame you. When my dad died, I was put in the foster system, so I didn't stay in the house we had lived in together. I think that would've been difficult."

"My mom and my sisters did it, though. They didn't run away, they faced it. And now I'm back and I feel like I'm ten steps behind everyone."

Keith's brows furrowed as Lance chuckled even as a tear fell down his cheek. He didn't hesitate to lift a hand and use his thumb to swipe the tear off Lance's face. Lance's face fell into his hands as a sob escaped his throat. Keith simply rubbed a hand up and down the length of Lance's spine. Lance didn't release any more sobs, though, just worked on even breaths under Keith's palm.

"I really don't deserve you," Lance said into his hands. "You're the one who got hurt and you're comforting me."

"You got hurt too, Lance," Keith said quietly.

Lance sat up and rubbed his palms against his eyes before facing Keith again. "I have learned that running away doesn't solve anything, and even though I'm way behind everyone else on the grief train -"

"There's no grief train," Keith grumbled before continuing in a softer tone, "you just grieve at your own pace, Lance. That's all you can do."

"I'm very sorry, Keith," Lance repeated as he rubbed more tears away from his eyes.

"I know, Lance," Keith whispered. He used a thumb to swipe another tear from Lance's face. "I accept your apology, if that's what you need from me." Keith sighed heavily, his expression somber but he wasn't filled with sadness anymore. After shock, sadness, and anger had rolled through him in those first months after Lance left, acceptance had taken over. "I missed you, Lance, but I knew what you were doing. I eventually realized you _needed_ to be away."

More tears spilled from Lance's eyes but he chuckled again. "Man, I don't even care about being an ugly crier right now. You're really amazing you know that? You're amazing and I also just need to, like, thank you."

"For?"

"You didn't have to talk to me at all when I came back, Keith. And maybe you only did because you needed help, but I'm grateful to be a person you depend on."

Keith shrugged a bit when he met Lance's gaze. "I've lost people where… there was no way they were coming back. But I knew you'd come back, so I …" Keith shrugged again. "I just tried to be patient."

"Keith," Lance practically choked on his name as he leaned in and wrapped Keith in a hug, squeezing tightly as if he couldn't resist hugging him for another moment.

Keith knew the feeling. He wrapped his own arms around Lance and tucked his face in Lance's neck, inhaling deeply and releasing a satisfied sigh.

"Can I take you and Belle on a date this week?" Lance murmured into his hair. "Or," he couldn't help but tease, "do you have plans?"

"My boyfriend is back in town." Keith smiled into Lance's neck. "So, I'm pretty busy."

* * *

Belle's hiking boots had fit perfectly, even if she ended up riding in the carrier Keith wore on his back through most of their hike.

Keith thought Lance planning a date that not only included Belle, _but was also anything but watching a movie_ , had been pretty thoughtful. Although, he realized the true reason Lance had planned this specific outing when Belle began to shriek with joy at the first sight of the waterfall. He paused in his steps so Lance could pull her out of the carrier (and save his ears) before they reached a bridge that gave them the best view.

"You want a picture?" Keith asked, even though he already knew the answer. He'd avoided Lance's bedroom while Lance was gone, never having a reason to go upstairs while at the farmhouse anyway, but Lance had led him upstairs on Thanksgiving because that's where he'd set up a pack-n-play for Belle's post-lunch naptime. Lance's bedroom walls were still covered with pictures of the two of them, even though Lance had been back in town for a couple months by then. Lance had even pointed out his five favorite pictures, the ones he'd apparently taken with him to Spain and had only recently re-added to his walls when he returned (Keith had been touched even if he'd rolled his eyes at the one of him in a tux for prom).

"Yeah, here." Lance transferred Belle to Keith and then leaned into him while he lifted his phone to take a picture of the three of them with the waterfall (it took some work to get Belle to look at the camera instead of the water behind them, but it was worth it with how Keith was trying not to laugh at his efforts).

They transferred the carrier to Lance's back for the walk back to the car and while Keith listened to the two of them talk back and forth to each other, he captured Lance's hand and laced their fingers together. Lance actually stalled in his steps and looked down at their hands in awe.

"Are you blushing?" Keith asked a moment later when he tugged on their joined hands to get Lance moving again.

"No!"

"You do remember what we used to do together, right?" Keith teased, mouth twitching. "You're going to blush because of a little hand holding?"

Lance tugged on their hands this time, pulling Keith in close before he used his free hand to tip Keith's chin up. His eyes focused on Keith's mouth as his own mouth pulled into a wolfish grin. "I remember," he said, voice thick and eyes lidded.

Keith hummed happily and bumped his nose into Lance's before he pressed a kiss to the side of Lance's mouth. Lance claimed his mouth after that, a soft press that soon turned urgent. The hand that had cupped Keith's chin moved to his neck to pull him closer and Keith found his own free hand fisting the front of Lance's shirt to hold him close as well. He almost sighed in relief to feel Lance's mouth with his, familiar movements that he'd been missing for so long.

Lance startled when Belle squealed and kicked her feet and Keith laughed at the thought that Lance had forgotten about her when he was the one currently carrying her.

"I think she wants us to move," Keith murmured.

"Well, it'll be naptime by the time we get back to your place," Lance said, eyebrows wiggling as he spoke.

Keith tugged on their hands again so they could continue towards the car. "Heads up that if Belle falls asleep on the way home, even if its only for five minutes, she wont nap at all today," Keith warned.

"Mission Keep Belle Awake is a go," Lance laughed. And when they reached Keith's car, Lance even jumped in the back seat with Belle, treating Keith to loud songs that he encouraged Belle to also sing, for the entire ride home.

And when Belle was in bed for her nap (and immediately asleep after the morning's activities, Keith noted) he tugged Lance into his bedroom and down onto his bed so he could kiss him silly for almost the entirety of naptime.

It felt like floodgates opened after that as they pulled each other into kisses whenever they wanted. When Belle was in bed that night, Keith found himself grinding on Lance on the couch, mouth either moving with Lance’s or attached to his neck, until they both came in their pants like teenagers. Lance had joined him in the shower afterwards (had gotten frisky in the shower as well, if he's being honest), and then spent the night for the first time. Keith slept well wrapped up in Lance's arms, Lance's scent, and with Lance's cute sleepy face greeting him in the morning.

And while they both had duties at Hunk and Rachel's wedding that weekend, Lance walking Rachel down the aisle before joining Keith, Luis, and Marco as groomsmen, they also took advantage of the many relatives who loved to hold Belle, and disappeared into a dark corner for a while during the reception.

The way their hands and mouths roamed whenever possible really did make Keith feel a bit like a teenager again, which was ridiculous because he had a daughter and a full-time job and an apartment and was going to be thirty in like six years. But he loved it. He loved how thoughtful Lance had been since his return. He loved seeing Lance with Belle (he managed to get a picture of Lance slow dancing with Belle on the dance floor during the reception), and he loved Lance's hands on him.

He just loved Lance.

* * *

Keith had left Belle with Lance when the case worker had called to ask him to come in for an impromptu appointment.

And when Keith returned, Lance's nerves spiked when he couldn't immediately tell why Keith's hands were shaking. He pulled Keith to the couch and wrapped Keith's hands within his own. He glanced down at Belle, she'd been playing with a wand that played music, but was now also peering up at Keith thoughtfully.

"I had a sister," Keith finally said in a rush. "Belle's mom was my _sister_. Ms. Adler called because they have a video she made, I got to see her on video, Lance." Keith's eyes were getting shiny but he pushed on. "They're going to send me a copy and I can show you and Belle, too. She recorded this thing when she was pregnant and gave it to her roommate who apparently forgot they had it until this week. On the video she said she'd developed an enlarged heart with the pregnancy and the doctors told her there was a chance she… that her heart would decline after Belle was born. She said she made the video to take care of Belle, said she wanted Belle to be with family and that she knew she had a little brother and she listed me by _name_ , Lance."

Lance could only gape at Keith as the words poured out of him.

"She knew," Keith whispered. "She knew about me. I don't know why she didn't try to find me."

"I don't know, either, babe," Lance whispered back, tucking some of Keith's hair behind his ear. "That's her loss, but it's still incredible information to learn."

"Lance," Keith's tone sharpened and he tightened his own hold on Lance's fingers. "That video is enough, Lance," he stressed. "That video serves as a will and the system can't argue with it. Ms. Adler said they're already finalizing the paperwork. They're already setting up a court date for the adoption to be official."

Lance knew those were happy tears streaming down Keith's face now because happiness hit his own chest full force. He jumped to his feet, pulling Keith with him and whooped as he lifted Keith off his feet into a hug. Keith laughed and when Lance set him back on the ground, he swooped Belle into a hug. She squealed in response, joining in on their celebration even if she didn't understand why.

* * *

Lance was happy to see the grand opening of Hunk and Rachel's bakery if only because he wasn't sure Hunk could handle any further stress waiting for it to happen. He had to spend more time in his office at the bakery now that they were a money-making business, but he'd force himself out of Keith's bed early in the morning and head to the bakery so that he was free to return to hang with Belle while Keith worked in the afternoon. (He actually did his best to finish his work and return to Keith's place _during_ naptime, giving them alone time before Belle woke.)

He accumulated more treasured photos over time. New tux photos from Hunk and Rachel's wedding, the two of them dancing with Belle held between them at the reception, photos from their court date when Belle's adoption became official, Christmas at the farmhouse with everyone (Shiro and Curtis had joined them, even if Shiro was still fairly cold to Lance), hiking trips, Belle in a puddle jumper to keep afloat in the lake.

And when Mama McClain decided she wanted to downsize into a smaller place and spend her time traveling, she bequeathed the farmhouse to Lance and Keith. Lance had asked about Luis and Lisa, but they'd declined since it would've meant a change of school for the kids. Marco was settled across country. Hunk and Rachel already had a cute house close to the bakery. Veronica preferred her apartment versus taking care of the large farmhouse.

Lance joked that he was getting the house because he was the last option, but he was still grateful for the home, especially when he helped move Keith and Belle's belongings inside. They painted one of the bedrooms purple for her and Keith repainted her name on one of the walls. They also turned one of the upstairs rooms into an office for Keith with a projector and comfy leather recliners (Ronnie said if they were going to change her bedroom, at least they turned it into something cool).

And a few months later, Lance swore he could feel his father's approval as he hung his and Keith's marriage certificate next to the certificates that officially named Keith and Lance as Belle's parents.

He wondered what his dad would think of the other new additions to the farm.

"But what do they _do_ , Lance?" Luis had asked. "Do we get milk from them?"

Lance shook his head. "No, they're not milking goats. Keith just likes them."

Luis looked confused. "So… pet goats? First you insist on a pet cow and now we have goats?"

"Keith really likes the noises they make," Lance said with a fond smile as he watched Keith and Belle feed the four little goats.

"You realize this is a working farm, right?"

"You don't have to take care of them," Lance laughed. "We're going to turn Belle into a 4-H kid. You just worry about the corn."

"Happy husband, happy I life, I guess," Luis muttered as he wandered away.

Lanced waited on the front porch for Keith and Belle to finish with the goats and join him.

"Sauce?" Belle asked as Keith helped her climb the porch stairs.

Lance chuckled at Belle's request and lifted her up so he could wash her hands in the kitchen sink before handing her an applesauce packet from their pantry. "I used to be cool but now I'm just an applesauce dealer."

"When were you cool?"

"Ha ha," Lance answered, leaning in, intent on pressing a small kiss to the corner of Keith's mouth but, but Keith turned and captured his mouth instead. Lance's eyes slid shut and he sighed contentedly as he met Keith's familiar rhythm.

The sound of a toddler blowing an exasperated raspberry broke them apart and Lance and Keith grinned down at Belle as she stared up at them, head tilted, eyebrows furrowed.

"You're just gonna have to get used to us kissing, kiddo."

"She got applesauce all over our pants when she did that," Keith grumbled, rubbing some of it off Lance's and then his own pants.

Belle handed Keith the empty applesauce packet and then shifted into a toddler run to find the toy basket.

Seeing her adequately distracted with toys, Lance pulled Keith back in and murmured a quiet " _Love you_ " before claiming his mouth for another kiss. Feeling Keith trust him by melting into the kiss in response was possibly the best feeling in the world.

He was never letting go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading and for all the supportive feedback! It felt really great to be back to writing again <3

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Tumblr here!](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/reader115)


End file.
